The Dragomirs'
by Leelu's skittles
Summary: Harry Potter and Teddy, his adopted son, are cornered by Voldemort. Harry grabs his son just before the numerous deadly spells hit them and they both pass out. They wake up to a world so different to the one they left behind. AU Eventual HarryRemus. Slash
1. Prolouge

~PROLOUGE~

"Daddy, I'm scared." The boy said as he held tight to his Fathers hand and shoved his most prized possessions in his pocket with the other. "I know, Teddy. I'm scared too." The green eyed man responded, shrinking everything they needed and put the items in his pocket. They hurriedly looked around to see if they'd missed anything and once they were sure they hadn't they ran downstairs and into the cellar. Once in the cellar the man spelled the door locked then added a padlock, just in case.

They ran to the back of the cellar where there was an invisible trap door underneath an old bed. "Teddy, remember whatever happens, you keep running. No matter what happens to me. Promise me." Teddy nodded at his father. "Say it Teddy." The man demanded. "Yes Daddy. I promise." The man opened his mouth again but was interrupted by a large crash from upstairs.

The front door had been blasted open.

The man placed a silencing spell on them both and opened the trap door, pushing his son under the bed. He then hurriedly cast images of him and his son into the middle of the room then climbed under the bed himself and quietly shut the trap door. He dearly hoped the noise went unnoticed amidst the crashes coming from above.

He fell down into the tunnel and saw Teddy waiting for him. He ushered Teddy forward, flipping the switch for the booby traps that his muggle friend had installed for him. "Where are you Hiding Potter?" echoed through the entire house as Voldemort became frustrated as he fruitlessly searched the house. Harry paused in his running for a second before continuing even faster, knowing that they had to get to safety soon because the diversion won't hold the Death Eaters for long.

They had almost reached the end of the tunnel when they heard the slam of a trapdoor being opened and a few seconds later a pain filled scream erupted, signalling that someone had fallen into the first trap. A pit filled with spikes. They would be more careful from now on. They reached the end of the tunnel and started to climb stairs that had been carved out of the stone.

Harry pulled himself from the staircase, brushing away branches and leaning down to pull his son into the forest. They replaced the branches and then they started to run through the forest, making sure to disturb as little as possible. They reached the edge of the forest, with no sign of the Death Eaters.

The next obstacle they faced was open land. It stretched on for miles, with few trees that were big enough to provide cover. "Are you ready? Remember your training. We will make it to the other side." Harry pulled Teddy into a hug. "I love you Dad." Teddy muttered into his shoulder. "And I love you." They pulled apart and started to run out into the plain, side by side. They were over halfway when a spell whizzed past them and exploded into the ground. Their heads whipped around to see at least thirty Death Eaters chasing them on brooms. They ran faster, even though they had no hope of out running top quality brooms.

They kept running until they were surrounded by them. They stood in the middle of the circle, back to back. The seven year olds body was shaking slightly as his hand groped for his fathers. Harry Potter knew it was the end. In all his twenty five years he had never been so sure of his imminent demise. He just wished he could have gotten Teddy hidden, preferably somewhere on the other side of the world. He held his sons hand tight as the circle parted so Voldemort could step through.

"Ah, Harry Potter. At last. And accompanied by that mangy wolfs' runt of a boy. You will both die today. And, having learned from previous encounters, I'm not going to give a speech on how superior you are because you always seem to find a way to elude death and me time and time again. Frustrating really. So, say goodbye Potter and Brat."

With those final words Voldemort and the Death Eaters raised their wands at the same time and prepared to cast an array of spells onto their victims. Harry knelt down and hugged his son to his chest, shielding him as best he could with his body. The Death Eaters took a collective breath and cast their spells, which collided with Harry and Teddy in a blinding display, which everyone looked away from, but Voldemort. Two screams of pain sliced through the air as they were disintegrated.

Voldemort let out a yell of triumph as his last living enemies were destroyed before his eyes. All of the Death Eaters eyes swivelled to the spot where the two used to be, but was now just a charred piece of ground. That night there was mass terror as the Death Eaters 'celebrated' their victory over Harry Potter. They could now take over the world and remould it to their liking.

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Harry Potter had an extremely large headache, and he was willing to bet everything he owned that it was from being hit with at least thirty different spells that were cast with the intent to kill him slowly, quickly, torturously, pleasantly and any other way you can kill a person. Also being disintegrated would do it. He carefully opened his eyes as he became aware of his surroundings again. He was still clinging tight to Teddy, who was thankfully still out of it. He was somewhere near Sussex.

He gently picked his son up and thought of the one place he could go, the one person who was still alive after Voldemorts rampage. The one person Voldemort, hell anyone, wouldn't want to upset. He had to get to Noirs and he had to get their now. Harry knew where there was a magical families house nearby. They were dead, but their house still stood. He apparated there, Teddy barely stirring.

He reached the house and saw people there. Living, moving about. The Glenns were alive! How was that even possible? At the moment he was still thankfully they were alive, and one more shock didn't really register. Although he knew that it would be a real kick in the pants later. Harry walked up to the house and knocked on the front door.

Lizzie Glenn opened the door and found a young man looking half dead, carrying a boy who was passed out in his arms. Well, she hoped he was just passed out and not dead. She screamed, and her husband came running, along with her eldest child Robert. "Sorry, I didn't know I looked that bad." The young man said sheepishly. "I just want to know if I can use your floo- I mean telephone." He covered up. These people obviously didn't know him, so it would be a bit strange if he knew they were magical.

"Of course you can use our floo, boy. Come in." Angus Glenn ushered them inside and sat Harry in a chair. "Thank you. I'm Harry, and this is my son Theodore, or Teddy for short." Shortly after, Teddy awoke and burrowed into Harrys' shoulder. "He's a bit shy." The youngest child of the Glenns has now come downstairs, Sonja Glenn. She brought chocolate biscuits with her. Teddys' sensitive nose picked up the chocolate and he turned his head slightly, observing her with one eye. "Do you like chocolate, Teddy?" Lizzie asked him and got a hesitant nod in return. She passed him a few chocolate biscuits and he smiled at her. "Isn't he a dear!" she exclaimed, Harry covering a laugh with a cough. "He is, a bit of a handful though." He smiled down at his adoptive son, ruffling his hair and stealing his half eaten chocolate biscuit. About half hour later they decided that they should get going.

"Thank you Mr. And Mrs. Glenn, for everything." "Call us Lizzie and Angus. You're welcome dear, Drop by anytime, you hear." Harry nodded and smiled, along with Teddy. They stepped up to the fire place and spoke softly into it, then disappeared into the green flames with one last wave.


	2. Meet Noir

Noir Dragomir was getting out of bed to start his day, or night rather, when green flames erupted out of his fire place and two people stepped out. "Noir, we need your help. I have no idea what's going on." Noir was out of his four poster queen sized bed in a blink. "Who are you and how did you get my floo password?" His slight Russian accent thickening in his surprise. "Noir, it's me Harry. And Teddy's here as well. Don't you remember us?" He asked his old friend.

"I'm sure that I've never met you before, or your Teddy." Noir raised his eye brow as Harry sniggered, and then realised what he'd said. Teddy then ran out from behind Harry and jumped on Noir. "Uncle Noir! You'll never guess what's happened to us. It all started when we were trying to escape from Voldemort, because he found our house and then ..." Noir arranged the small child carefully in his arms and walked over to his desk, leaning against its edge. _I might just find out what's happening, if the small Teddy would tell the story. Without the embellishments.___He thought as he heard about the millions of miles they head to run.

Meanwhile Harry had kicked off his shoes and walked over to the bed, swaying from exhaustion. He climbed into the large bed and drifted off under the still warm covers, listening to his sons' voice. Hours later he woke up to his son still talking to Noir. Teddy had a medium rare steak in front of him and Noir was drinking from a golden goblet, droplets of the dark red liquid were quickly staining his inner lip bloody.

"Ah, you're awake I see. Your charming son has been filling me in on what has happened with you in the last day or so. The only conclusion that I can draw is that you are from an alternate universe, or dimension. Whatever terminology you prefer." Noir levelled Harry a look over his goblet as the younger man started to laugh. Harry would know that look anywhere and his laughter trailed off. It was Noirs' patented we need to talk. **Now**. _Or else_, look. Harry nodded slightly at him in understanding.

"Teddy, I think you should go to bed now. It's getting close to dawn." Harry jumped out of bed and then put his son down for the night. They waited until they heard his breathing even out before they started talking. "What do you wish to know Noir?" Harry asked, following Noir into his living room and sitting on the black leather recliner opposite Noir. Noir stood for a few seconds longer before he too sat in one of the comfortable chairs.

"How close were we in your world?" Noir asked to start. Harry smiled flirtatiously at him and winked. Noirs' mouth fell open. "No!" Noir exclaimed, and Harry cracked up laughing. Once he calmed down, he looked to Noir. "I'm sorry, but that was just too tempting. We were like brothers. Hell you even taught me how to fit into vampiric aristocracy." Harry told him. Noir raised a delicate eyebrow at him and took a sip of blood. Harrys lips twitched at such a predictable reaction from his friend.

"How did we meet?" "Funny story. It all started when you were stealing an orange from my garden. I swear that secret fetish of yours is the source of the majority of your problems. Anyway, you took an orange, then fell out of the tree and onto of me. All that happened to you was a broken leg, five broken ribs and a strong concussion. Whereas I had a bruise on my stomach for weeks, weeks I tell you!" Harry said. Noir chuckled at him and motioned for him to continue.

"I took you inside, away from my orange tree, and put you in the spare room. I was going to wait until you woke up to interrogate you, but dawn came and you started screaming when the light hit you. I decided to close the blinds. You were at my house for weeks, and you were bloody annoying too. 'Can I have this, Can I have that. I'm sore, I hurt. I want another orange' Whinge, whinge, bloody whinge. And then when you were all better, you decided to stay and annoy me some more. I couldn't get rid of you either because Teddy decided he wanted to like you.

"Then you grew on me. Not fair. Unfortunately vampire aristocracy was missing you. The bastards busted down my door and almost killed me and Teddy for 'kidnapping' you. They never even offered to pay for my door, either. Then you saved us and went back to your dark gloomy castle, those cobwebs don't build themselves you know. You were Teddys' hero for ages after that. He continually wore a cape, changed his hair to dark red and eyes to purple and grew fangs. Imagine that, a werewolf that wants to be a vampire. And you just had to tell him that we could visit anytime. Annoying bloody vampire, you are."

Harry finished his monologue while Noir chuckled. "So basically you cared for me and we forged a friendship. Your son likes me too. Then I saved your lives and extended an invitation to my home. I no longer have to wonder where Teddy gets his story telling skills from." Harry shrugged and grudgingly nodded his head, pout spreading over his lips.. "I like my version better." "I'm sure you do."

"Hey Noir, I have a few questions too." Noir inclined his head. "What about Voldemort? Does he exist, is he dead or what?" "Well, that man is alive. Unfortunately. He is doing everything quietly though. The wizarding community is aware of him and he occasionally does raids and the like. But the people who do know that he is responsible are being ignored or have formed their own vigilante group. He killed the Harry Potter of this universe on the same night he murdered Neville Longbottom."

"The Order of the Phoenix." Harry said, hand automatically reaching up to touch the golden phoenix pendant that was hidden by his dirty clothing. He thought on it awhile before asking his next question. "What date is it? And how long ago were they killed? Is Sirius dead?" He asked. "They were killed ten years ago this Halloween. James and Lily Potter had Harry Potter three years out of school; they are thirty-one this year. The date is the 15th of April, 1991. Lily Potter teaches Muggle Studies at Hogwarts; James Potter is an Auror and lives with his wife at Hogwarts during the school year and at Godrics' Hollow in the holidays. They have no other children although Mrs. Potter is rumoured to be pregnant."

Harry shook his head. "I'd forgotten how extensive and thorough Vampire gossip- I mean the Vampire information network was." Harry smiled and rubbed the back of his head sheepish at his slip up. He would hate for anyone to hear him say they were gossips, not even the Gods could save him then. "I know. We are all terrible gossips, but we are quick to find the truth and never have completely false rumours." Noir took another sip of his drink, smile quirking the edges of his mouth.

"What of the other Marauders, and Dumbledore?" Harry asked him. "Dumbledore is the Headmaster of Hogwarts, head of the Wizenmagot, blah, blah, blah. He is old, kind and fiercely devoted to the light. He also meddles 'for the greater good.' I swear he doesn't know when to stop. The founders each had their own special rooms, although Salazar Slytherin was the only one who advertised his. Albus Dumbledore is apparently searching for them, although very discreetly.

"Sirius Black was an Auror for a few months before he saw a crime scene, he was disgusted at the sight of the decapitated bodies, half eaten body parts. He went outside to vomit in the bushes and was jumped by the Death Eater that did it. He was fortunate enough to dodge most of the blasting curse, but he was in a coma for a few weeks. After he woke up, Dumbledore offered an alternative to going back to the Aurors. Become the flying instructor at Hogwats. He took the offer and now terrorizes the staff and students of Hogwarts with James and Remus Lupin.

"Remus Lupin resides at Hogwarts and teaches Ancient Runes. Dumbledore offered him the position a year after he graduated. The then current teacher had passed away from a stroke, and Remus had gotten the highest scores in Ancient Runes for the last few decades before and since. He helps the other Marauders in their pranks and makes sure there is no evidence incriminating them, and that the pranks aren't too malicious. He transforms with his two best friends in the shrieking shack, he takes the wolfsbane potion and they go roaming around the grounds and surrounding area. Very irresponsible.

"Peter Pettigrew taught history of magic because Professor Binns finally decided to pass on, after killing the minds of thousands of children first of course. Before that he worked in Flourish and Blots as an assistant. A few months ago there was a hogsmeade weekend and Voldemort attacked. He defended the children until backup arrived, then was stupid enough to get hit on the head by a 2 by 4 plank of wood from a collapsing building. He is currently in a coma. Mitzy Mulligan has been his temporary replacement."

Noir finished reciting the knowledge that he had previously heard through the info net. Harry nodded his head slowly, taking in all of it. "So Pettigrew isn't a traitor in this world? Sirius wasn't imprisoned? Neville's dead? Who is Mitzy Milligan? My head hurts." Harry rubbed his scar. It wasn't active anymore, after Dumbledore and the last of the Order died, he paid a man to sever the connection through legillimency. Harry then obliviated the man so his secrets wouldn't be revealed. But it was still the place that he rubbed when his head hurt, and that area of his head was most prone to headaches. And getting hit by flying objects.

"Harry, how about you tell me about your life and I can fill you in on what's different in this world. Mitzy Milligan is an American born witch who moved to England during the 80's. She remains impartial to the war and is a pureblood."

"Okay, well I all started when my Mum decided to give my Dad an early Christmas present and, now I don't know the specifics but they got home and my mother strutted up to my father, most probably wearing some form of lingerie..." "Oh in the name of the Goddess! Stop! I didn't mean that and you know it! How do you even know that?" Noir said; horrified that he had almost ben told... he didn't even want t think about it! "Well I worked it out, counting nine months backwards, plus I was early so there. Yule. So you know you were, roughly, a Samhain present?" Harry smiled as Noir groaned.

"Just kidding, well not about when we were born, or conceived. When I was one, on Samhain or Halloween. Is this you still pagan, or not?" Harry asked and Noir levelled him a look. "Still pagan, just the like majority of vampires." "So anyway, on Samhain eve, Voldemort came to my house because my parents' secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew, was a traitor and told Voldemort where they lived. And then he knocked down the door, blasting it open, and my father told my mother to escape with me and after a brief fight with the dark lord he was killed..." Harry told Noir his life story. Several hours later he had finished with minimal embellishments and no interruption from the vampire.

"Let me get this straight-" "That'll be hard." Teddy said through a yawn as he walked past and went into the bathroom. Harry stuck his tongue out at him and pouted as Noir laughed. "Oh, I like him." He said and Harry groaned. "That's what you said last time. Now I'll never get rid of you." "Like you'd want to anyway. Night Dad, Blackie." Teddy went back into the bedroom and shut the door and unknown to his father, stuck his ear to the door and listened in. "Blackie! Why that little-" "Oh, I like him." Harry replied. Noir got up to get himself some more blood, whacking Harry on the back of his head as he walked past.

"So, your friends dumped you when they found out you were gay. Sorry, except Remus, who told you Sirius wouldn't have cared. You also discovered where Godric Griffindors' private room is located because you did something stupidly Gryffindor that he would've approved of in the area of Hogwarts that it was located in. You met his ghost who told you where the locations of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws' rooms were, roughly because he thought you 'looked like a nice chap.'" Noir sneered; he'd always known that Godric wasn't all there. "Then Nymphadora Tonks died on duty for the Aurors. A.K'd in the back. Remus died the next full moon when he transformed because his wolf went psycho and none of the rest of his pack were there. He left behind Teddy and you got custody of him."

Harry nodded along, he'd skimmed through that part because he had been outside the cellar door on the full moon and couldn't break through Remus' spell work. He had kept trying to break through and did a few hours before dawn. He'd gotten inside to see Remus' mauled corpse. He hadn't broken through the wards; the person that sustained them was dead. Harry hoped they would move on soon, the subject was painful.

"Then Voldemort got extreme and started to attack everywhere in Briton. Thousands were lost. Then after five years, you had a vision through your scar about a raid Voldemort himself was going to attend, with minimal Death Eater backup. Every one of the surviving order members, except you, was killed in the raid. You had been misinformed. Voldemorts entire army was there and it was a slaughter. Dumbledore got you out. You and Teddy had been on the run since, occasionally staying with me. During which time I taught you how to be a Vampire Aristocrat. Then you were chased down by Death Eaters and Voldemort with Teddy and now you are here." Harry nodded his head.

"Tell me what you learnt, if anything, from me." Harry stood up and started a lecture, trying to imitate Noir as best he could, including the slight accent. "Potter, I'm going to make it so I can introduce you to my friends without being embarrassed. Your manners are atrocious, but then you were raised with those despicable muggles. Always sit up straight. Straight! That's not straight, it's curved. Goddess, help me. Don't touch anyone unless their family. Or if it's absolutely unavoidable. Like if you're going to kill them."

Harry conjured a stool and forced Noir to sit on it, before pacing around the amused Noir. "Never show your teeth when you smile because vampires show their fangs only to intimidate and dominate, or laugh at wizards who fear them. If a vampire smiles at you like that get me immediately, I will tell you who did it any why. And If they were trying to intimidate you raise an eyebrow and walk away from him and to me. Stay away from my sires' wife, Emillie. She will eat you alive. Figuratively and literally."

Harry picked Noirs' practically full goblet out of his hand. "What did I say about sitting up straight? Stand up." Noir rolled his eyes then stood up at the barked orders. "Your posture is horrific. We'll need to work on that. Sit." Teddy giggled silently at his father ordering his uncle around, and the look on his face. He peered through the keyhole again.

"Never even think about trying to shake hands, they'll know it. Remember, no contact, unless it's me or Teddy. Always be polite. Don't nickname unless you know them like family, and never say it in public. So you shall call Teddy, Theodore. Do not use slang. Talk properly; don't mumble. Act superior to everyone who is below you, especially non-vampires. And you, Harry, are above everyone except me, my sire and his wife because I shall be announcing you as my brother. So for the Goddesses sake, LISTEN!" Harry roared before pausing momentarily to rearrange his face from neutral to a smirk. "Here I took a drink from my cup, okay." Harry said to Noir, who nodded and took a drink from an imaginary cup because Harry still had his goblet.

"Vladimir help you Harry! If I ever see you gulp down your drink like that I think I'll have an aneurism. Only ever take small sips of your drink. I don't care if you haven't had a drink for 100 years. Only small sips!" Harry then moved to where Noir was sitting. "I need to do both parts because I have to accurately report what happened. And your expression was priceless."

Harry moved back into 'his' spot. "I don't care if you haven't had a drink for 100 years. Only small sips!" Harry then moved to Noirs' side. "What like this?" and Harry sculled down the blood in the goblet. He jumped over to where he was facing Noir. "Hey Noir, that face is exactly what the other you looked like. Weird." Harry then collapsed on the ground, screaming. "It burns!" Teddy came racing out of his room and knelt next to His father and Noir. "You stupid idiot, you just drank my blood! I was detoxing because I've been indulging on too much ox blood!"

Noir picked Harry up bridal style and moved towards the fire place, waiting for Teddy to grab the hem of his night clothes. "Dragomir manor, Vladimirs' study, password is sire." Noir stepped through the fire and his sire Vladimir Dragomir was at his side almost immediately. "Noir what's wrong?" He asked with a think Transylvanian accent. "My idiot friend accidently drank some of my blood and now he's screaming like a banshee."

"Follow." Vladimir commanded. They followed his to this bed chambers where Emillie was laying, still half asleep. "Wake up Emillie. Set him down Noir. All of you leave now." Emillie and Noir left the chamber, with Noir assuming that Teddy was still attached to his robes. The doors shut and locked behind them just as Noir realised that Teddy wasn't with them. "Teddy!" He turned around to get him but was stopped by Emillie. "Worry not; he will be in good hands." She said thinking he meant the sick man, he calmed down because he thought she had seen Teddy.

Vladimir shut and locked the doors. He turned around to find a small boy clinging to the hand of his soon to be childe. "Who are you?" "Theodore, but you can call me Teddy. Can you fix my Dad?" he asked. _Great_, thought Vladimir, _If there is a blood relation to give blood then the transition will be easier for the boy._ "I will need your help Teddy." Teddy nodded solemnly, he wanted to help anyway he could.

Vladimir produced a knife and motioned for Teddy to hold out his wrist. Harry had fallen silent now, besides the whimpering. They forced his mouth open and Vladimir cut Teddys' wrist and let the blood flow down Harrys' throat. Vladimir told Teddy to keep the blood flow then bent down and bit his neck. He started to suck some of his blood out and replace it with his own. It took a few minutes and then Vladimirs thought the blood started to change taste slightly. He kept going for a little over five minutes, though it felt forever to Teddy who was bleeding out into his father, watching a stranger bite his father.

When Vladimir finished, he was exhausted. He looked around and saw the little boy swaying slightly and still bleeding into his Fathers mouth. He had completely forgotten about him. "You can stop now. You did really good Teddy." The little boy smiled then passed out from blood loss. Vladimir caught him before he hit the floor and placed him next to his father. He then went out to see his wife and older childe.

"Noir, you'll be happy to hear that your friend is fine. I had to change him though. His son helped ease the transition as much as able. It's always better to have a blood relation near to transfuse blood and make the transition easier." Vladimir smiled, even as his son paled. "What's wrong? I know you probably didn't want him to be a vampire but..." He trailed off at the stricken look on Noirs' face.

Vladimir gathered his thigh long black hair into a ponytail at the base of his neck, while Emillie did the same for Noirs' hip long crimson hair. Violet eyes darted around the room for a way to escape the worrying gazes and get to Harry. "Teddy is adopted." He whispered and Vladimirs' face took the same pasty colour. "He's an adopted werewolf." He continued. Vladimir and Emillie looked at each other, her dark skinned hand coming up to smack his head. "Stupid man." The French woman said.

They all walked into the bedroom, taking in chairs also. They all took shifts watching Harry, making sure he had no adverse effects. A day later Teddy joined the watch. A week later Harry woke up, his electric green eyes hadn't changed, except for becoming glow in the dark. He opened his eyes and startled both Noir and Teddy the way they stared from the darkness.


	3. Names

**Authors Note: I am so terribly sorry this took so long to post; I've been busy my whole holidays with my Art project. And I'm a bit lazy. Enjoy!**

"Daddy!" Teddy shouted and jumped on his adopted father. Harry tried to speak but was prevented by his own vocal chords, the raspy whisper that came out made even Noir cringe. He was quickly passed a glass and he sipped at it slowly, not even registering the content of the glass. "Harry, are you okay?" Noir asked guiltily. He felt completely at fault for what happened to his little charge, even though he'd only just met him. Something within the powerful vampire was just drawn to the not so fragile ex-human in front of him.

"I feel fine; better than I have in ages. Especially since being attacked by the Death Eaters." Harry said, smiling as he rubbed at his wrist. It was unusually itchy. "Don't scratch at the bite." A deep voice said from the door way. Vladimir walked into the room and sat gracefully on the bed. "Hello my Childe." He said and Harry gave him a forced smile. "Hello sir." He said, slightly creeped out by the hand patting his head. A smirk worked its way onto Noirs face as he watched Harry try and get out from under his sire's hand. Subtly of course.

A deep, booming laughter reverberated around the chamber as Vladimir laughed at his new Childe. "My name is Vladimir, Childe, and I am your Sire." He said and Harry nodded. "Right. Never met royalty before." He said and Vladimir shook his head. "You've become a vampire. You drank Noirs blood and he brought you to me so that I could save your life." He said and Harry nodded once more, more at ease now he knew what was going on. "Okay, why couldn't Noir change me though?" He asked and Noir lowered his head, ashamed at his weakness.

"Noir has not the control to change a wizard. Especially one with such an appetising scent as you." A light, feminine voice said from the doorway. Emilie walked in, her bright lavender eyes assessing harry as she came closer to the bed. "Which is why my darling husband saved you. Unfortunately there were some complications during the process due to inattentiveness." Harry nodded, not sure whether the soft accent within in the words put him on edge or comforted him.

"What complications?" He asked and there was a muffled sob from where Teddy had buried his head into Harrys chest. Harry, for the first time since waking up, took notice of the wet patch that was slowly getting bigger on the front of his shirt. "What's wrong teddy?" Harry asked as his son cried. "I had your son bleed into your mouth so that the transition would be easier on you. I later found out that he was adopted and also a werewolf, there is nothing wrong with that." He added hastily at the daggers look that Harry gave him. "It's just that we have no idea what the effects on you will be as no one has ever had both werewolf and vampire blood in them before. You are technically an experiment and an oddity."

Harry nodded. "Thanks for being reassuring." Vladimir laughed. "We'll have to do some tests, to see what you can do, what you can't do, what you need to eat, whether you transform, things like that. Once you get well of course." He smiled then left, he had a society to run after all. Not that his smile was the least bit comforting, what with the large fangs that glinted menacingly even in the darkly lit room.

"I'm Emillie, Vladimir's wife. I hope you get better soon. I'll have to inform the community that Vladimir has a new Childe. Nice meeting you." She left and Harry and Noir looked at each other. "She means she's going to gossip with her friends." They said together. "I wonder when Vladimir will find a name for you." Noir said and Harry looked at him, hand rubbing soothing circled into his sons back. "But I like my name." He said and Noir rolled his eyes. "Every vampire gets renamed by their sire upon their turning. A ritual is done so that you can 'shed the skin of your old life and be born again to begin anew.'" He quoted and Harry made a face. "Doubly for you. How well do you think it would go over if you strutted around saying you were Harry Potter?" He asked.

"I do not strut!" Harry said , insulted. A small giggle came from the child that was clinging to him. "You do a bit Daddy." He said and Noir beamed at the boy. "You see!" he said before deciding a strategic retreat would be best at the moment. "I'm going to go ... see about getting you both personal chambers." He said and quickly fled under the unnerving gaze of the newest vampire, the glowing eyes following him out of the room.

"I'm so sorry Daddy!" He sobbed. "I didn't mean to make you like me! I'm so sorry!" He kept sobbing and Harry held him until he fell into a restless sleep, muttering reassuring things to him all the while. Harry looked around the room, moving as little as possible so he didn't disturb Teddy, his eyes scanned the room he was in. The decoration was extremely Spartan and the walls were a disgusting beige colour. He had no idea that it was the middle of the night and that no ordinary human could see more than a few centimetres from their face.

He yawned and lay back down on the bed, cradling his precious son to his chest. Soon he fell asleep, becoming statue like. If anyone had walked in, they would've assumed he was dead.

By the next night, Harry was ready to break free of his forced bed rest. Emilie had come to show Teddy around the castle, speaking to herself in French all the while. Something about Grandchildren. Harry had never been too good with French, only learning the bare minimum. He knew Russian extremely well and could curse a blue moon in upwards of ten languages. So now he was all alone and so ready to make his escape and do _something_. He'd always hated bed rest.

He slipped out of the bed, silk sheets being regretfully left behind. He was wearing only a pair of silk pants with his hair falling freely down his body. He felt the pants with long, delicate fingers and deduced that in his old world the only time he would've worn pants as good quality as these would've been when he was forced into them for a formal event. And now he was wearing them as _bed clothes_. He shook his head and commenced his escape plot.

He opened the door a crack and looked around before slipping out and walking down the empty corridors. His feet made not a sound as his quickly stole up the corridors. He heard the sound of several feet approaching with his sharp ears and pressed against the wall, seemingly disappearing. Except for his eyes. The green glowing orbs were beacons in the darkened hallways and he quickly shut them as the group went past.

He waited a few more minutes before he opened his eyes. He looked around and stepped from the shadows, immensely proud of himself. Until there was a chuckle from somewhere else in the corridor that most definitely did _not_ make him scream like a small child. He spun around and standing before him was a man that had short platinum blonde hair and ice blue eyes. "Hi." Harry said, waving a little and the man smiled at him. "What were you doing?" He asked and Harry shrugged, thinking there was something extremely familiar about the man before dismissing the thought.

"I was escaping from my bed. I've been cooped up in the room for ages and I wanted to get out, stretch my legs." He said and the vampire nodded. For he was obviously a vampire, what other creature has such large fangs? "I know what that's like." He said and nodded his head towards Harry in acknowledgement. "My name is Red." He said and Harry raised an amused eyebrow. "Red?" He asked. There was nothing red about the man. His complexion was paler than Harrys own porcelain one, his hair was pure white and his eyes were ice blue. And it wasn't like he dressed in reds, rather in blacks with several silver piercings. He had snake bites, his left eyebrow pierced, too many piercings to count in his ears and what Harry thought was a tongue piercing.

"I was named after a family rivalry that I was involved with when I was still alive. My Sire was a cruel bastard." He said and Harry nodded. "That would suck." He said and then rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I haven't been named yet." He said and Red smiled. "So you're the new Child of Vladimir." He said and Harry nodded. "Yep." "And you're the one who I'm supposed to find, bring back and make sure you don't leave the room?" "..."

Harrys mind was racing, but was interrupted from thinking anything too reckless by a chuckle. "You found him Red?" Vladimir asked as he swept into the corridor. "Yes Sir." He said politely. "And he didn't try an escape?" "Not yet." Vladimir nodded and smiled. "Then you can be his new bodyguard. You've been bored for far too long. You get to make sure he adjusts to life in the castle and that nothing bad happens to him."

Red nodded, bowing to his king, before turning back to Harry. "Follow me you two, the naming ceremony is about to begin." Harry and Red walked along behind Vladimir, Harry in between the two so he couldn't run off.

The three men walked into the room to find Noir and Emilie talking quietly while Teddy bounced around the room curiously, touching everything he could get his hands on. Teddy looked up and seemed to practically fly to his father, slamming into his side and wrapping his legs around Harrys waist. The newly turned vampire didn't even falter in his step as his son became attached to his side. "Hey Dad!" Teddy said, skin turning the same alabaster as Harrys and his hair changing to match the neon green of Harrys eyes.

"Have you been behaving yourself?" Harry asked and Teddy nodded. "Yes, Dad. Grandma and Uncle Noir taught me how to kill a man using pressure points!" He said, bouncing up and down. Harry laughed as Noir frantically tried to deny the claim. "Hush Noir, my grandson needs to know these things." Emilie said and Harry gave her a smile. "Now, Vladimir." Emilie said, turning her gaze to her husband. "Are you going to gift this Childe with a new name?" She said and as her glowing charcoal eyes landed on her husband, Harry realised who wore the pants in the relationship.

"Oh yes, I'd almost forgotten." He said and walked to stand next to his wife. "Emerald seemed like such a fine choice." He said and paused at the stormy look on Harrys face. Teddy had informed them all of exactly how much his father hated to be mistaken for a girl, which had then spawned some evil ideas inside both Vladimir and Noir's heads. "But then your eyes are no longer that colour, so it was hardly appropriate." Noir expertly covered his chuckle at the relieved look on Harrys face, but from the glare he received from said man it wasn't well enough. "I also thought Dmitri, but then Teddy and Noir would shorten it to Dim, and I really don't want a civil war in my castle."

Emilie rolled her eyes at Vladimirs attempt at a joke and elbowed him in the side. "I thought through hundreds of names. Then I thought of something biblical, but neither of us are Christian. I wanted something that suited your personality, but I've spent barely ten minutes with you since we've met. So I tried different languages, thousands of different words. Anything, everything I could think of. So last night I was looking up at the stars and the name just came to me."

He stepped down from the raised platform he was on and approached Harry. "Orion [O-ri-an]. Yes, that name fits you. I looked up at the ever present night stars and saw Orion's belt and thought to myself, 'Everyone likes Orion's belt. It has three parts to it. It's constant, and compared to other constellations it is very small. Just like you!'" He ignored Harry, or rather Orion's, narrowed eyes. "If Orion's belt could talk it would sound like you." He finished and hugged the newly named Orion as well as Teddy. "Welcome to the family boys."

Emilie came down and hugged them also. "Oh là là!! I have a grandson! How wonderful this is! Teddy, my petit-fils, my grandson." She was going to continually spoil him, he could just tell. "Look, Orion has been in this family not even a minute and already I have a grandson. Unlike you!" She said and rounded on Noir. "When am I going to get a nice wife and grandchildren out of you?" The French vampire asked him and Noir cringed. "I just haven't found the right person yet." He tried to explain but she shook her head. "Non! Over 1000 years and still not even a girl friend! You are just not trying. Maybe I should set you up with someone..." She trailed off and Noir turned to Orion and Teddy for help as Vladimir wouldn't be any good.

Orion just laughed and turned away to find where his new bodyguard was. The platinum haired vampire was leaning against the wall. Orion carried Teddy over to him and smiled. "So, do you know where we sleep?" He asked and Red nodded. "Of course. Follow me Orion, and you Theodore." He said and walked out of the room. "Call me Teddy." Red nodded and inclined his head to Teddy. "And I am Red." Teddy frowned at that.

"Red? That's stupid. I would've called you Blondie. Or Goldie. Maybe Stud?" He asked in regards to the piercings. Red's lips quirked at the last name and Harry shook his head. "How about you just call him Red?" He asked and Teddy shook his head with a resolute determination only found in the young. "No. You are now Pyre." He said and nodded. "Pyre?" Red asked and Teddy nodded once more. "Because you didn't like the other ones, and Pyre sounds cool. Plus it's like Vampire without the vamp."

"Very ingenious, little one."


	4. Dobby

**Disclaimer:** _Don't own, yadda yadda, would've been closer to porn, etc, not suitable for kids if I did own. _

**AN**:_ Sorry it's a bit short, and doubly sorry for the wait. I was assaulted by hundreds of plot bunnies, a severe case of laziness and both of my cats each giving birth. I have nine cats, now. And my room smells like birth. _

_Also, I would like to desperately thank everyone who reviewed, favourite and alerted this story (and me) I try to answer every review but, honestly, I kinda suck at that. So thank you all, especially for your patience and reviews that made me fuzzily in the stomach. You all make me so happy! Oh gawd, I've turned into a sap! Oh well, *glomps everyone reading*_

--

Orion yawned as he stood outside. The sun was slowly rising, and he was being forced to stand outside without _coffee_. It was inhumane. On one side was his beloved Son Teddy, and on the other side were two maids. They were twins. One had an umbrella in her hands, and the other had a silver fire blanket. They were there in case he spontaneously combusted. It had been just under a month since he'd been named, and Vladimir had wasted no time in experimenting with Orion, to test his limits.

The first test had been whether or not he could eat human food, and how dependant he was on blood. Orion was relieved that he could eat normal food; though he needed blood to survive. They had found that he changed into a wolf but it wasn't dictated by the moon (he could but out a nair store any time of the year), and they still needed to test whether sun light was harmful to him. Thus why he was standing, caffeine deprived, in the rising sun. Vladimir, Noir, Emilie and Red were safely in the castle; watching through a magical monitor.

The sun peaked over the horizon and suddenly, as soon as the rays of direct sunlight touched his skin, he shouted out in pain. "Oh no!" He screamed theatrically as the four vampires inside the castle almost had heart attacks, his son screamed in terror and the two human servants covered him.

The tension was broken as Orion struggled free of the servants and started to laugh. He had trouble holding himself upright. "I didn't even get to scream 'I'm melting.'" He whined. There was silence. Teddy growled and took the umbrella from the servant, doing it up. Orion was soon being chased around the wooded area by a furious Teddy. The small child had actually managed to chase his father up a tree, brandishing the umbrella like it was the worlds deadliest weapon.

Several hours later, when the sun finally sank again, Orion was rescued. Kind of. Vladimir and Emilie were occupied by some important business, leaving Noir and Red to save Orion. The rescued him from the tree, like he was a stranded cat, and proceeded to glare at him. Orion was decidedly uncomfortable, with three sets of eyes boring into him.

"My heart almost started to beat again." Noir exclaimed. While the two vampires hadn't known him that long, Orion was an instantly likeable person. His fake burning had scared them immensely. "If you ever do that again, I'll stake you myself." He finished and Orion turned to Red. "No chocolate." His statement, short and simple, was the most devastating Orion had ever heard. And then it got worse.

"And no coffee." He added. Orion sank to his knees, wailing at the top of his lungs. Teddy chuckled, patting the top of his fathers head. "Don't worry dad, I'm sure you'll survive without them." Orion looked up at his son, into amber eyes. "But...but I won't be living." He said pitifully. Red rolled his eyes. "You'll survive." He assured him, pulling him to his feet. "But how do you know?" He pleaded and Red rolled his eyes

"I've known vampires to die from drinking coffee, but never from abstaining." Orion pouted as he was led back to the castle. "So not fair." He said and Noir shook his head. "Think of it this way, you'll have something to look forward to!" Orion growled, but allowed Red to lead him to his room, making sure that coffee nor chocolate was ingested. "Remember, a doctor a day keeps that heartbeat away!" Noir said cheerfully as he and Red left the room.

Those two had been able to get to sleep. Orion hadn't, for fear of being smacked, repeatedly, by an umbrella. Now, Orion might've been one of the best wizards in the last few generations. But that didn't mean his maturity level was anywhere where it was supposed to be. But, ever the responsible father, he tucked Teddy in before trying to escape for chocolate

He opened the door to his room and looked around. There, sitting right next to the door, was Red. His eyes were closed, but the smirk curving along his face made Orion back away in to his room and curses flew silently from his mouth. That damned bodyguard was just too good. What he needed was someone unwaveringly loyal to him. Someone who could get him what he needed without being seen.

Someone like Dobby.

Orion gasped as if the secrets to life had just been gifted to him. Quickly he woke Teddy. "Da..? He asked and Orion nodded. "We need to rescue a dear friend." He said and Teddy looked rightly confused. "Dobby, our dear house elf, is currently suffering under the Malfoys. We need to liberate him." Teddy was suddenly wide awake. "Dobby! I can't believe we forgot him!" He cried and Orion nodded solemnly. "We need for him to be free, to live out his dreams. To give hope to other house elves." _And to give me my coffee_. _And Chocolate_.

The two set about planning, being as silent as possible so they didn't alert Red to what was going on. And finally, after many hours of plotting, they had a plan. Orion would steal one of Noirs clock, as it wouldn't do to be recognised, and pretend to be Lucius Malfoy. He would hand Dobby clothes and order on to the Dragomir elves to take Dobby home. Hopefully, since Dobby was so eager to be free of the Malfoys, he would accept it and go with the floo.

But they needed a plan to help get around Red. The attentive bodyguard was a major road block, and Orion was racking his brains trying to think of a way to get away from the muscled vampire. Teddy rolled his eyes at his fathers stubbornness. He headed over to the door and opened it, sticking his head out.

"Hey Pyre, wanna to help us liberate a repressed and slightly crazed house elf?" He asked. A few seconds later Red was settling next to Orion. "Sure. Beats doing nothing. What's the plan?" He asked. "Well, we have to infiltrate Malfoy manor..." Orion trailed off as the smirk that came over Red's face. It was practically feral. "Oh, what a challenge." He mocked. Orion raised an eyebrow but Red ignored it. "I'll tell you how to get through there, and how to get to the house elves quarters, without anyone being the wiser." Harry nodded.

"But we'll have to wait for tomorrow night, sunrise is in a few hours and you will need your sleep." Red stood up and waited until the father son duo had settled into bed before he pulled a muggle chocolate from inside his trench coat. Harrys eyes were immediately glued to the chocolate.

"I was going to eat this, but as a reward for wanting to break into Malfoy manor, you can have it." And Red chucked the chocolate to a delighted Teddy.


	5. Mission Success

**Disclaimer:** _Don't own, yadda yadda, would've been closer to porn, etc, not suitable for kids if I did own. _

_Happy Australia Day Eve! The excitement of the approaching Australia Day has finally gotten me off my derrière and written something. Happy days! Thanks to all who reviewed! _

_--_

Orion walked into the room imperiously, the glamour he was wearing showing a disinterested sneer. He had reached the house elf quarters. The room was small, barely tall enough for the house elves to stand in, and their beds were little more than nests; the materials for which obviously having been scavenged. The house elves in residence looked up fearfully. Orion was, at that moment, Lucius Malfoy. And they were all scared of their Master.

"Dobby." He even sounded like Lucius, and the house elf appeared in front of him. Terrified. "Y-yes master?" He asked timidly, and Orion wondered if Dobby was the same in this universe. But then he saw a spark of fire in the elf's eyes and dismissed the thought. Orion revealed a sock in his hand. "Clothes!" One of the other house elves squeaked, and suddenly the rest had huddled up against the far wall of their room. As far away from the offending item as possible without leaving their masters presence.

"Tiddly." Orion said and one of the Dragomir house elves appeared. "Dobby, you have been sold." He threw the sock at Dobby. "Go with this elf and get out of my sight."Tiddly placed a hand on one of Dobby's trembling shoulders, taking them away with a '_pop_.' Too late Orion thought of getting Tiddly to take him away too.

Orion turned on his heel, letting the door to the room shut behind him. Now all he had to do was leave the manor. Red had easily draw a map of Malfoy manor, instructing Orion on how to enter while ignoring questions on how exactly he knew the details. (Orion, personally, thought that Red had once been a Malfoy) Red had stopped his questions with a Caramello Koala. (And Orion thought that he was, quite possibly, the best Malfoy in existence.)

But the one thing Red had been vague on was the escape. He'd told Orion to walk out the front door, because the wards did nothing about people exiting. But Orion, in his chocolaty daze, hadn't exactly been listening to Red's instructions of how to leave.

Which is how he found himself in the gigantic kitchen of the Malfoys, where Orion could hardly see one end in the dark. Orion was being a quiet as possibly, but then he saw a bar of chocolate just begging for Orion to take it. Well, it had actually been sitting on the table, but Orion found that fact irrelevant. Orion slid up, silent like a ninja, and slipped the chocolate bar into his pocket. He turned to leave the kitchen and continue on his search for the exit when he heard a childish giggle.

He followed the noise to the source and found Draco Malfoy. Said child looked nothing like Orion remembered him to look at that age. There was no slicked back hair, or impeccably perfect clothes and the sneer was absent. His white blonde hair fell around his eyes and a smile lit up his face as he played with a house elf in his pyjamas. Orion felt his paternal instincts swell up at the sight of the innocent child, sitting there with snitches flying around on his clothes.

And then he was spotted.

Draco's eyes were fearful as he stood up straight, the toys falling to the floor. The smile was gone and Draco tried to, discretely, hide the house elf with his body. "Father." His voice was small and kind of hysterical, and Orion was reminded that he looked like a sneering Lucius Malfoy. "It's not Pin's fault. I made her..." He trailed off, looking desperate. Orion tipped his hood back, the enchantment breaking and showing his real face. His skin was paler than ever in the moon light, and a cheeky smile stopped Draco from continuing on.

"Hello, squirt." Draco looked stricken at the thought of a stranger in his house. "I won't tell if you don't." He said, hoping his glowing eyes didn't scare the boy into calling for his mother or father. That would be awkward and definitely get him yelled at by Red. Because, when breaking and entering, being caught was always bad. "My name is Orion." Orion said, because Draco had opened his mouth and didn't look like he was going to ask him how he liked his tea.

"But everyone calls me Ori, right Squirt?" Draco had the grace to look offended by the name. "I'm not here to harm you, or anyone in the house. I just came to free Dobby." He said and Draco looked at him suspiciously. "The weird house elf?" he asked and Orion nodded. "Yes, that's him." Draco still looked at him suspiciously and, with reluctance, Orion pulled out the chocolate he'd taken off the table. "And, since I've already done that I was going to leave. But would you like some chocolate first?" He asked and Draco hesitantly took the chocolate.

"How do I know you've not done..._things_ to it?" "Things? Merlin, make it sound dirty why don't you." But Orion broke off a piece and ate it, to prove that it was fine. "And I shall now take my leave." Orion said and walked out of the kitchen. He was surprised to have Draco follow him, but it was reassuring to have some company in the creepily quiet manor. Even if it said company was someone who was your rival in another universe but was currently a sleepy child munching on a chocolate bar.

Orion made a left turn, but heard a coughed 'right'. So he spot turned and went in the other direction. There was a little giggle and Orion smiled. Draco was kind of cute when he wasn't being an obnoxious brat. Or maybe he just felt like that because he was now a father. One of the mysteries of life. And then, after several more coughed directions from Draco, Orion found the front door. But, before he could reach it, Draco darted in front of him and opened it.

"It's hexed so if you're not a Malfoy something bad happens. I don't know what yet, though." He said and Orion smiled, running a hand through Dracos soft, platinum hair. "Little one, I thank you." Orion said and stepped out. "See you round, Squirt." Orion said, before starting to walk to the edge of the anti-apparation wards. "Bye...Ori." Draco said quietly to his departing figure and Orion smiled. The image of a child Draco Malfoy, peeking shyly around a huge door with chocolate around his mouth and large, innocent eyes was well worth giving up his chocolate.

That didn't mean that he wasn't going straight home to raid the fridge for some chocolate. Or Red's coat, whichever he saw first. It was odd, but Red always had chocolate on him somewhere. And Orion could smell it. The infuriating man, though, always gave it away before Orion could tackle him and take the chocolate from him. And then Orion changed his mind. He would definitely be getting the chocolate from Red.

After all, he hadn't played rugby for ages and it would be good to see if he still had some skill.

"Hi Dobby!" Teddy said excitedly and Dobby looked at him. "Is you Dobbys new master?" He asked and Teddy shook his head. "Nope! But I can be your friend if you want." Dobbys eyes filled with tears. "You is truly being Dobbys friend? Oh, you is a very kind young master. Dobby shall treasure your friend ship forever." He said.

"I had to do it!" Was heard before a crash. Seconds later Orion ran into the room, slamming the door behind him and leaning against it. "What happened?" Teddy asked and Orion smiled. "Well, Noir might've caught me putting his cloak back. Orion moved forward and seconds later a very unimpressed Noir was standing there. He raised an eyebrow.

"But, I had to take your cloak so I could rescue Dobby!" Orion said, gesturing to the small house elf. "He shouldn't be held captive, forced to slave away! He should be free! I didn't trick him into becoming free just to force him into servitude here! I swear." Orion said, nodding as if to make Noir nod along with him. "I'm going to set Dobby free so that he can work wherever he wants, get paid, have vacation time, and rights." Orion turned to Dobby.

"Do you want to be free Dobby?" The little elf nodded so hard, and so frantically that Noir though his head might fly off. "I know a few places that might employ you, with wages, if you want. And if they don't hire you, you can come and work for me." Dobby beamed, tears coming to his eyes. "Oh yes, you are a kind master! Just like little master. Both kind, loving Masters. Better than Dobby could ever hoped for, masters. Dobby would love to be free, Dobby is being so happy."

"Then you're free, Dobby." Orion said happily, and was then hug tackled by Dobby.

Red, as it turned out, was not easily tackled. It had been a goal for Orion the past week. Nay, it had been his _mission_. He was going to tackle the smug, blond vampire and get the chocolate. The fact that Red had _offered_ the chocolate had only rubbed Orions failure in his face and that was cruel. So Orion had rejected the chocolate and continued on with his mission.

His mission was currently the reason why he was edging the door of the ball room open as quietly as he could. Vladimir was currently throwing his annual summer ball. Orion could've attended if he'd wanted to, but Emilie had recoiled in horror and said that there was absolutely no way that he could be introduced to the vampiric community yet! He had to be given etiquette lessons, and learn so much. Noir had snickered in the background, until Emilie had said that he could be the one to _give_ the lessons.

Vladimir had decreed, then, that both Noir and Red would be instructing him to get him ready for his coming out ball. Teddy made a joke about his sexuality, Noir said something about a dress and Red had offered him a chocolate bar to ease his shattered soul. It was the mocking that had made Orion to decide to tackle Red during the ball. Because then he could complete his self-appointed mission, and have Red embarrassed in front of his friends.

Orion skirted around the edge of the ball room to where Red was standing. He was near three other men. One had dark red hair, more crimson than red, which fell to his shoulders in gentle waves. He was as broad shouldered as Red, and Orion thought he could see some resemblance in their facial structure. Like Red, the man also had blue eyes, but his were darker. Another had mocha coloured skin with black hair and eyes that reminded Orion of chocolate. He was slightly shorter than the others, but still taller than Orion. The last vampire had grey eyes and neon green hair that was styled into liberty spikes.

All four were wearing muggle suits instead of dress robes (which Orion found very sensible). Orion also noted that the other three also had piercings. The Red look alike had the same piercings as Red, except instead of a left eyebrow piercing he had one in his right. The man with the liberty spikes had snake bites, a labret and his septum pierced while the black man only had a labret and a bridge piercing.* All four of the men had piercings all up both of their ears.

Orion watched for a minute or two, hoping that no one noticed him lurking in the shadows, before Red shifted. He'd moved slightly so that he was, at the moment, completely clear from the others. Orion saw his chance. With a war cry (which sounded suspiciously '_chocolate_'), Orion leapt from the shadows and tackled Red. The elder vampire was thrown to the floor, and Orion happily used his body as a cushion. And Orion laughed in triumph because, really, he had expected Red to move or duck or do _something_ so that he would not be tackled. But he had succeeded.

"Success!" Orion cried, his hands unbuttoning Red's suit jacket as he straddled the man. He'd finished his mission, and now he wanted his reward. He could smell the chocolate, but now he just had to find it. And then Orion noticed that he had become the focus point of every pair of eyes in the room. His hands paused, resting on Red's chest, as he beamed at the curious vampires. "Hello, I am Orion." He said politely, bowing his head slightly. "It's very nice to meet you all, but I just came to retrieve..." And Orion grabbed the chocolate bar out of the inner pocket of Red's jacket. "This. And I shall leave you to your merriment now."

He was out the door and half way down the hallway, chocolate in hand, before anyone could blink. There was silence in the ball room, the only sound being the fading footsteps and laughter of Orion and Teddy, who had been waiting for his father to find out how the 'mission' went. And then all eyes returned to Red. Said vampire was staring amusedly at the door Orion had disappeared through. And then his friends started to laugh.

The laughter quickly spread throughout the room as Red stood up and tried to right his skewed clothes. He pulled his jacket back up to his shoulders, tucked his shirt back in and buttoned his jacket back up. Red could see Noir across the hall, leaning against the wall and trying not to laugh too hard (and miserably failing). Next to him was Emilie who was positively mortified.

Red felt his lips curl up into a smirk as he heard someone say about how Vladimir's new Childe was positively adorable. With her large green eyes and charming smile. It was such a shame that she was enamoured with her bodyguard. And Red could not wait to tell Orion that everyone now thought that he was a girl.

Red politely excused himself from his friends, and the three invited themselves over later in the week so that they could be introduced to his new charge. He could see Noir also heading for the door and they met in the corridor outside. Noir was smirking at him. "Why did you not tell me that you were in love with the dear Orion?" He asked, laughing and Red laughed back. "I feared that I was not good enough for that beautiful _lady_." He retorted and both men sniggered again, before turning serious.

"You know Orion's going to be so pissed off about this." Noir said and Red nodded, both subtly moving towards where Orion's rooms were. "And he'll probably be stunned speechless for a few minutes." Red continued. "But I imagine it'll be a funny event for the person who tells him." There was a lull in conversation for a moment. "Well, first come first served Noir." Red said and they both started to run, as fast as they could, towards where they hoped the smaller vampire was.

Because the look on his face when he finds out what his _'successful mission'_ has done should be absolutely priceless.

* A labret is actually any piercing situated on the lips, but is normally taken to mean a piercing on the middle of the bottom lip (and that's what I meant). Snake bites are dual piercings on either side of the bottom lips (and are symmetrical). A septum is the wall of your nose that divides it into two cavities, and a septum piercing is placed there. A bridge piercing is a surface piercing done on the bridge of your nose, in between your eyes.

For pictures, just Google the type of piercing (of just look up facial piercings).

Also, did you know that Google is recognised by Microsoft word as a real word? I didn't.


	6. Introductions

Orion sat there, bored, and waited for the twins to finish. The two women had come into his room earlier that day and had decided that he needed a lot of work done before he could be called presentable. The only reason that he consented and let the two humans have their way was the fact that his 'coming out' ball was that night. He was forced to endure hours of pampering. He was given a potion than made his nails grow, and then his nails were filed _down_. Orion didn't see the point. Why not just leave his nails? Who would care, honestly, if they were _normal_ nails? But, apparently, it was the style to have nails sharpened into claws.

Orion was so tempted, so _very_ tempted, to morph his hand into a claw (which would conveniently destroy all their work). Because of the werewolf blood, it was almost like an animagus transformation. He could control it, absolutely, and he had easily learnt how to isolate the transformation to certain parts of his body. It was entertaining to be a part of the play Teddy had decided they do. Orion had been the Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood. Seeing the face of Noir (who was the little girl) when he'd shifted his teeth so that they were actual wolf fangs and his ears, so that they were canine ears, had been fun.

Noir protesting at being the girl, and the fact that Red got the position of the hunter, was also most amusing. Especially when Teddy glared at him and told him, in no uncertain terms, that he was going to _wear_ that dress and red hood. He was going to wear the stockings as well; and the shoes and pin his hair up nicely _or so help me Merlin I will get Dad to force you into it_.

Red had had a smile on his normally stoic face for days. And his friends, the one's Orion had seen at the ball, accredited it to his _new woman_. Orion was still slightly sour at that. And Noir was a bit sour that everyone thought that Orion was Red's.

Orion rolled his eyes as the women continued to poke, prod and 'doll him up.' Even though, to Orion, ever alteration they made was either pointless, or something they undid and left the way it was originally. Orion wondered whether the two were only there for lack of anything better to do. They wanted to do everything for him, but Orion begged out of getting bathed by the two. So they waited until he was done and then pulled him towards the wardrobe he'd barely touched since his arrival in the rooms. Partly because he feared he'd get lost.

The wardrobe doors were opened theatrically by the two women and Orion cringed. All he could see were dresses. Actual dresses, not dress robes. Dresses; frills, bows, lace and all. All Orion thought was _not if the Goddess herself begged prostrate at my feet_. He was so relieved when he spotted the mens clothes. But one of the maids, Kieran, kept looking towards the dresses. Orion wondered whether over my dead body still counted as an appropriate expression. Or, perhaps, over my charred, dusted corpse? Either way, it would be a very dead, as in six feet underground, man that they dressed in women's clothing.

Soon after, once Orion was wearing a beautiful muggle suit with a silk shirt a leather shoes, Noir knocked on the door. The maids pushed Orion out, declaring him ready. Hair pulled up in a severe, high pony tail, his features were highlighted, but there were still a few pieces of hair that framed his face and fell to his shoulders. Orion looked at both men standing before him, each with a rose in their hands. At the same time, almost as if it were synchronised – and on later reflection Orion realised that it probably was – the knelt and presented him with the roses.

"A rose for our beautiful, delicate rose." They said. Orion gave them each a cold smile and, with a flick of his wrist, he burnt the roses to ash. "If you two act like that tonight, and _fuel_ the rumours that I am female, _I will castrate you_." He hissed. "With a spoon." The two men winced as Orion brushed pass them. He paused a few steps later. "A rusty, broken spoon." He continued to walk.

"Are you two coming?" He asked innocently over his shoulder. They hurried after them, dearly hoping that Orion was joking but not willing to risk that he wasn't bluffing.

They walked through the corridors to the ballroom and both men quietly reminded Orion everything that they'd taught him. Finally they arrived at the ballroom and Orion looked a bit nervous. He took a deep breath as he heard his name announced and Noir clasped him on the shoulder. "Remember, no fear." He said before he and Red disappeared from that entrance to silently slip into the ballroom.

Steeling his resolve, seconds before the doors were opened, Orion looked calm and collected the first time he was formally introduced to Vampiric society. And it made Orion wasn't to scowl that many of them looked surprised. Obviously they'd not thought to link the new vampire that had stolen Red's chocolate with Vladimir's new Childe. Orion walked in calmly, stopping to meet anyone who offered, or anyone who was near his general path. He was headed towards Vladimir and Emilie.

He was amused to note that, while all attention was on him, she was fiddling with Vladimir's clothing and redoing his hair. Orion pulled his attention away from his Sire and Sire's wife, returning it to the gentleman in front of him. Orion thought that his name was Balthazar something or other. Or maybe Baltaza. Or even Babar. He had stopped remembering after the first twenty or so people. So Orion smiled politely and laughed at the jokes until he was called away to meet someone else.

Eventually, though, he'd met almost everyone in the hall. Except for the group which Red was standing with. And Orion made his way over, trying not to run away when he saw the smirk bloom on the face of the green haired man with the liberty spikes. He murmured something, too soft for Orion's enhanced hearing to pick up, and the other two men looked past Red and to him. Now Orion really wished that he had run away. But he couldn't, because then neither Red nor Noir would let him live it down. And then Teddy would get wind of it…

It was better to just endure now, rather than suffer for the next few months.

"Orion." Red said, turning to face him. The four men weren't we wearing suits again, and Orion chuckled as he approached. "Suit up." He murmured and Red tilted his head. "Suit up?" He asked and Orion nodded. "Yeah, from a muggle show. There's also Space suit up, if you prefer." Red just rolled his eyes and Orion came to stand next to him, ignoring the way his head just barely skimmed Red's shoulders.

"Orion, these are my friends. Cadfael," the man with the neon green liberty spikes nodded. His grey eyes looked Orion over and he smiled, revealing a mouth filled with wicked looking teeth. Every single one was serrated, and they were shaped like shark teeth. "and Achshiyarshu." This time he motioned for the black man, who actually looked normal. Kind of. From a distance. Because Orion could see black tattoos, just barely darker than his skin, all over his face. They extended down his neck and Orion assumed they continued past the collar of the shirt. His hair was shaggy and fell down, into his eyes slightly. Not enough to hinder him, but enough to make people like Molly Weasley want to go at him with scissors.

But the other man, Cadfael, would probably give her heart attack. Imagine if Bill walked through the door with hair like _that_.

Orion waited to be introduced to the last man, the red headed one, but Red did not seem inclined to introduce him. So there was a slightly awkward silence, on Orion's part at least, before Orion rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm Orion." He looked pointedly toward the red headed man. "My name is…" And he mumbled off. Orion raised an eyebrow. He was not impressed. "I didn't quite hear that." Orion said and Cadfael snickered.

"He's just embarrassed about his name." Orion tilted his head to the side. "Why would he be embarrassed about his name?" "Because it's Geronimo." Achshiyarshu's voice sounded so deliciously sinful, that it took Orion a few seconds to register what had been said. Orion tried to contain his laughter, he did. But honestly, Geronimo? Orion looked the man over. His dark blue eyes actually did look similar to those he'd once seen on a puppy in a store window. And Orion felt his lips tug down as he made a conscious effort not to laugh or smile.

But then Red laughed, and Orion soon followed.

Geronimo – if that really was his name- pouted and that only made Orion laugh harder. After a few minutes, he calmed down. After all, it wasn't that funny. "Is your name really Geronimo?" Orion asked and Geronimo scowled. "Yes. Red and I were Sired by the same man. His sense of humour was somewhat lacking." He sniffed and Orion shifted around Red to pat the taller mans arm. "But at least the entire Vampiric community doesn't think you're a woman." He sympathised and Geronimo chuckled.

"Yeah, thank the goddess. Too bad for you. You are very feminine, though." He said, ignoring the way Red was subtly shaking his head, signalling 'No.' But Geronimo did not heed his warning. "It's not like you can be called masculine, or handsome. More of a pretty face." He trailed off at the darkening of Orions face. The man looked around, making sure no one was paying attention. Outside of their group, they weren't being watched and he smiled – ever so sweetly at Geronimo – before he shot one hand out. Geronimo caught his wrist easily, and his other one when Orion tried to use his other hand.

Geronimo opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut when a grin spread over Orions face. Twisting his hands, Orion grabbed Geronimo's wrists and then yanked down as hard as he could. Geronimo's upper body was jerked down and his nose met soundly with Orions knee. Orion let go of the taller man and stepped back. Red rolled his eyes. "You haven't had your coffee yet, have you?" He asked and Orion shook his head.

"Those blasted maids wouldn't let me escape." He grumbled, ignoring Geronimo as he stood. Orion also ignored the crack that signalled the man had snapped his nose back into place. "Well, I'm off to talk to Noir." He too a few steps before turning back. "Would you four like to join me for poker later? I haven't played in ages, but Dobby gave me a pack of cards and I want to keep my skills up." Red nodded. "Sure. Later tonight, or tomorrow night?" He asked and Orion shrugged. "How about tomorrow night? I have to see if Emilie can watch Teddy." He said and Orion turned again, quite pleased with himself. Because that really wasn't the worst first meeting or worst first impression that he had ever had or made. Orion walked off, chuckling when he heard one of the men – Orion thought it was Cadfael – say something about him being a vicious mother fucker.

It sounded strangely like a compliment.

Orion awaited the next night eagerly, and it was very hard to contain his excitement. Orion was very good at poker. In fact, he rarely lost. Where as most people were sombre, trying to hide their emotions. Orion wore them on his sleeve. Except, half the time they were the wrong emotions. If he got a winning hand, his eyes would dim, and he'd look around nervously. Then he would act confident again, making people think he was trying to bluff them into thinking he had a good hand when he didn't.

But He did, and he won.

Other than that, Orion just played as if he didn't care who was winning, or the money being laid on the table. And he didn't. Not much, any way. But winning wasn't really the aim of the game tonight. Tonight, he just wanted to get to know Red and Noir better, and hopefully become friends with Red's three friends. And maybe remember how to say their names properly. Honestly, who named them? One was some sort of Irish Gaelic name, another from a time where they'd probably never heard of bathing (not that Achshiyarshu didn't bathe, honestly Orion wasn't sure there was anything wrong with that man) and the last was _Geronimo_.

Red's name was, strangely enough, normal.

There was a knock at the door and Orion called for his visitors to come in. Geronimo walked in, followed by Red. "Hey Orion." Red said and Orion smiled. "Hey Red. And Geronimo. I think I shall make you a nickname. Otherwise I might laugh everytime we talk." There was a smile on his face as he said the name. "No one else wants to shorten it. The bastards all get a kick out of saying it." Orion nodded sympathetically, motioning for him to sit. "How's your nose?" Orion asked, a tad bit smug, as Red left to raid the kitchen while he waited for his other two friends to arrive.

"Healed." He said and Orion smiled. "That's good." Geronimo smiled at him. "I was quite impressed that you managed to break my nose, as were the other three. Very impressive to be able to injure me, with my line of work." Orion tilted his head to the side. "What do you do?" Orion asked. He was very curious. He didn't know what Red did for a living. Surely, 'watching Orion' wasn't a valid vocation. But, maybe it was. It was certainly better than what he wrote down when McGonagall gave them a sheet to fill out. Apparently to 'write hot, smutty, homoerotic literature' was not an appropriate career choice. Who knew?

"Bodyguard. Red, Sheba and Liberty are also. We make a four man team when we work together." He said Orion raised an eyebrow. "Sheba?" He asked and Geronimo nodded. "We also take assassination missions. Do you know how hard it is to yell for Achshiyarshu in the middle of a battle? You'd barely get halfway before you would have to stop to defend yourself, or go in for the kill. Especially if you're trying to alert them to somebody behind them." Orion nodded. That made sense.

"But Sheba?" He asked and Geronimo nodded. "As in the Queen of Sheba. He's royalty anyway, so I figure what's a name between Royals." Orion rolled his eyes. "Achshiyarshu is Royal?" Geronimo nodded. "When he was alive, at any rate. Son of some evil warrior overlord. Sheba took over once his father … died and became the ruler of the empire. Bloody bastard is very old. He was fatally wounded during one battle. His sire watched the battle, and decided that he couldn't let such talent go to waste. So he was turned, renamed to Achshiyarshu and trained how to be a vampiric warrior."

Orion nodded, how awesome was that. "Vampires have battles?" Geronimo nodded, leaning back in his chair. "Course they do! Every vampire who is currently a bodyguard, or in that line of work, was turned for the sole purpose of serving as a warrior for their King. Regardless of whether the King turned them or not." Orion nodded. "Actually, there are probably a few of the Aristocrats who are warriors as well, or were before they were turned. But the ankle biters should be able to hold their own in a battle." Orion was now most definitely intrigued.

"So, Vampires have different classes that are independent of who they were before?" He asked and Geronimo nodded. "Yes. You would not expect that, if a peasant was turned by the King that they would return to being a peasant?" He asked and Orion shook his head. "But more often than not the people turned by Aristocrats are also of nobility. And warriors turn warriors. It is just natural, to choose to make a vampire from something you know." Orion made a mental note to himself to investigate the vampiric class system some more. It sounded so interesting. He'd probably been given the basics by either Noir or Red, but Orion had been asleep during half of their lessons.

"By why did you nickname Cadfael Liberty?" he asked and Geronimo shrugged. "Because I could." That seemed like a valid reason as any to Orion. "I have a nick name for you, Geronimo." Orion said cheerfully. The crimson haired man raised an eyebrow. "Oni." A voice from the door tisked. "Great. Now there is an Oni and an Ori. That won't get confusing." And Noir entered, seating himself next to Orion. Orion rolled his eyes, and the three waited for the last three vampires to walk through the door.

"Hey Noir?" Orion asked, tilting his head to the side. He looked up from where he was picking t the table. "Are you an ankle biter?" Noir raised an eyebrow, looking appropriately shocked and appalled, while Geronimo roared with laughter. Orion, watching Noir vehemently deny the claim, wondered what it actually meant.

Apologies for not updating sooner. All excuses that I have pale in the shadow of my main reason; pure and utter laziness. In all actuality I've had this chapter finished for a while, just didn't want to post it. I was reading other stories. My bad. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	7. Wandering

Thank you for everyone who pointed out my embarrassing spelling mistake. My friend and I cackled endlessly like the witches we are when we first got the review. And then I forgot to fix it, and more reviews came and I could not stop laughing for days. But now I have fixed it – I hope. If you see any spelling or grammar mistakes (and I know they're in there somewhere) then please let me know and I shall endeavour to fix them.

Love, Leelu.

Orion chuckled softly to himself as he sat in a huge, plush wing backed chair. It had been a week since the poker night – with Orion winning, of course – and Noir still hadn't forgiven him yet. Orion couldn't see why he was so insulted, it wasn't as if Orion had meant it as an insult – he was just asking an innocent question. Back in his previous world, Orion had never met another Vampire apart from Noir. He had no idea they had a class system, or warriors or anything like that. Though it would stand to reason that they did. But Noir was still frosty, and Orion expected him to be like that for a while.

Apparently Noir had been a great warrior before he had been turned. Probably why he didn't like being called an ankle biter. It was, Orion had discovered, the vampire equivalent of being called a green soldier Childe with no restraint who had gotten his comrades into trouble and then left his comrades to die while he fled and hid behind the legs of his Sire. So yeah, Orion could sort of see why Noir was pissed off at him – but it had been an innocent question. He would have asked the next person who entered the room.

With that thought and Noir's reaction, Orion was suddenly very glad that Red had not been the next to walk in. Noir was almost always happy and he was pissed off, so comparatively Red would have felt apocalyptic.

Orion leant back in his chair, and felt boredom over come him once more. There was nothing to do in the castle, and even less now that Noir was ignoring him. Red had been, unfortunately, called away by Vladimir to do something or other – Orion had been trying to sneak some chocolate at that exact time so he hadn't been paying attention to what was being said. Orion had nothing else to do so he started to talk to himself, having a very animated discussion.

Which soon turned into a loud argument.

"No! The best chocolate is the Hazelnut kind that comes from the muggle advent calendars!" Orion shouted, before he shook his head, giving a small growl. Really, what a ridiculous thing to say!

"Bullshit!" Orion roared, before giving a very manly shriek when he heard the small, squeaky voice of Dobby from behind him. Orion span around, and tripped on the thick rug. His arms flailing, Orion finally crashed down onto the plush carpet that didn't do much to protect from the hardness of the stone floor. Orion waved off Dobby's concerns, giving the house elf a very toothy grin.

"What was it that you needed Dobby? You know I'd be glad to help you with anything." Orion asked, tilting is head. The little elf stuttered on for a little while, singing Orions praises about how kind and generous he was all the time – about how Dobby was blessed to know the great master Ori because Ori was great and giving and Orion soon tuned him out.

"...And so, Sirs Master Orion, Dobby was wondering if you could write him that letter of reference to Professor Dumblydoors if Greats Master Orion has time, Sir." Orion beamed at him, nodding. Of course he'd help the elf and write up the letter, and told Dobby so. Hell, even if he didn't like the elf he'd do it just to relieve the boredom. But he was rather fond of Dobby (thus the reason for breaking him out) so it was a moot point.

It was fifteen minutes until Dobby stopped thanking him, and another fifteen before he had the right thing to write down. Half an hour after that, Dobby popped off with the letter in his hands. And then Orion was just as bored as he had been before.

With a yawn, Orion decided to sleep away his boredom. Or maybe he would leave the castle and go see if the closest village had some decent chocolate.

Several countries and half a continent away, a shocked Albus Dumbledore was receiving a very exuberant house elf. The Elf had popped in a few minutes ago and handed over a letter. Dumbledore had read the letter, but still didn't really believe what he was reading. There, in front of him, was the first happily free house elf that he'd ever seen. Asking for work.

"Would you like a drink of tea, Dobby?" He asked. The elf promptly burst into tears and started to babble. It was, quite possibly, the oddest scene he'd been witness to in the last decade.

"Oh, great professor Dumblydoor! Dobby thanks you for this honour!" He half shouted, half sobbed in between sips of tea. Dumbledore looked back to the letter. It was short and to the point.

_Headmaster Dumbledore,_

_I liberated this house elf from his previous place of work and he is in need of employment. His name is Dobby and he is an incredibly hard worker, just a bit odd. He desires freedom, but wants a job. He also likes clothes, socks in particular. _

_Something you two have in common, I'm told. _

_He wishes to come and work for you, if you find that you cannot employ him simply send him back. _

_Orion Dragomir. _

"Well Dobby I have in my hands a glowing letter of recommendation. And it also says here that you like socks." Dumbledore looked over his desk and, sure enough, there were socks on the elfs feet. One was obviously a Chudley Cannons sock, and the other pink with red stripes. Both socks were very thick and woolly.

"Dobby loves socks, great professor Dumblydoor." He said and Dumbledore nodded.

"Well, Dobby, I think that Hogwarts could hire you. Let's talk wage."

"Wage?" He asked, stunned. The old headmaster nodded. Obviously the elf hadn't thought about getting paid.

"I shall pay you the same amount that I pay my staff and-"

"No! Dumblydoor shall not pay Dobby!"

"But Dobby, I insist."

"No!"

"But if you work here I have to pay you something, there is a thing called minimum wage." Dumbledore was at a loss. If Dobby worked for he, he had to pay him.

"Dobby will take minimum wage, and that is all." Dumbledore nodded, acquiescing.

"Then if you insist on minimum wage, I insist that you take weekends off." Dobby made a horrified sound.

"No! If great professor Dumblydoor insists on days off, then Dobby will insist that he only take one day off a year." Dumbledore had never had such a forceful conversation with a house elf.

"One day a month, and that's final." Dumbledore said and Dobby sighed.

"Fine, Dobby will accept minimum wage and one day off a month." Dumbledore nodded happily.

"Dobby, you will start work tomorrow but could you do something for me first?"

"Anything great Professor Dumblydoor!" He was back to jumping on the spot, wide grin on his face.

"Could you tell me about the man that sent this letter? I am curious, as I've never heard of him before." Dobby nodded so hard that Dumbledore was worried his head would pop off. His ears also made the oddest sound as they moved through the air and then slapped his head.

"Master Ori is the bestest Master! He freed Dobby from bad old Master! Bad old master would have said Master Ori is worthless, but Master Ori is not worthless! Bad old master! Bad!" The Elf gave a violent twitch and Dumbledore wondered if it was a good idea to hire the elf.

"Could you take a letter to him for me?" Dobby nodded and Dumbledore started to compose a letter to the mysterious Orion Dragomir. The name sounded familiar, but Dumbledore couldn't put his finger on it.

As it turns out, Orions idea to go to the village was like almost every other one of his ideas. Bad. Orion looked ethereal in vampiric circles, glowing green eyes, lily white skin, untameable hair and small stature. In human circles he stood out. Orion hadn't known what country they were in before. Transylvania, as it turns out, wasn't very hospitable to otherworldly looking people.

Or maybe it was just Orion?

The small town that Orion had wandered into, on the stormy day, was at least a half days walk from the castle. Orion had left a note before he started his trek, thinking that the nearest village would be more like a city and close by. Wrong. It was at least half a days walk, probably more, because Orion hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. It could have taken a whole day for all the attention he had been paying to his surroundings.

Orion had been doing something that he rarely did. Thinking about his original universe. He wondered what Voldemort had done to it – what he had turned it into. By now it was probably a raging inferno. Muggles would be running about, screaming of the Apocalypse as they were picked off at leisure by the Death Eaters. Wizards and witches would either be enslaved or dark. By the time Orion had pulled himself from his dark thoughts, about what had happened to Noir of his other world, he was on the edge of a village.

And when Orion said village, he meant wooden houses, packed dirt roads, a well in the centre of town. It was like he'd stepped back in time a couple hundred years. Orion had stepped into town and, looking at their clothes, had wished he'd worn something more conservative. He currently had on a travelling cloak, a pair of jeans and an emerald green sweater. Everyone else had high necked long sleeved things on. Women were wearing hideous dressed and Orion didn't even want to think about what the men were wearing.

It looked painful.

As soon as Orion had entered the town, everyone who could see him had stared at him. He'd tried to approach someone to find out if there was a sweets shop in the town, but the woman had run away. There didn't seem to be many people though, but Orion didn't let it bother him. He was getting close to the centre of the town, where the well was, and saw a gathering of people. There was a man standing on the ledge of the well, obviously the leader of this little gathering.

"We should not allow this menace to control our town! He sends minions to do his bidding, to enslave us! He asks for sacrifices! Who will die next?" He asked and there was silence. He looked at the crowd and Orion edged closer.

"Will it be you Marion? Maria? Sofia? Which family will have to mourn next? Who gets the next tombstone?" Orion could sense the unease of the crowd. Obviously no one wanted to be the next sacrifice. Orion felt pleasantly surprised. He'd never seen a peasant uprising before. Orion finally got a clear look at the speaker.

Hazel eyes, fair skin and black eyes made him look like a fairly ordinary man. His broad shoulders matched those of the men in the crowd, clothes were almost identical. The thick silvery scar that stretched across his neck, however, was not ordinary. It looked like someone had tried to slit his throat and, obviously, failed at killing him.

"We must stand and fight! No longer will we be cowed by that monster – who will fight with me?" There was a roar from the crowd and Orion had the feeling that he'd just caught the end of an impassioned speech. Someone came up and whispered something in his ear. He looked around quickly before starting to talk again.

"Even as we stand here, one of that monsters number infiltrates our streets! We will show him that we will not back down, we will not surrender. This is our town and we will fight for it!" The crowd roared again and Orion smiled. This was entertaining. And watching the way that the scar moved when the man talked was entrancing.

The man jumped down from the well and stalked over to where Orion was standing. Everyone in the crowd turned to look at him and Orion suddenly had the thought that it wasn't a good thing. He could already see the pitchforks and torches.

"So, he has sent you to do his dirty work, has he?"

"Me?" Orion asked.

"Who else would I be talking to?"

"I have no idea. But I only just arrived, so I don't even know what 'He' you're referring to. Are you talking about Noir, or my son? Because neither of them sent me here. Which reminds me, do you know if this town sells good chocolate?" Through everything, Orions love for chocolate prevails.

"Don't play dumb with us! We know you've come to get another sacrifice to cart off to his castle. But we wot allow it. Not this time, and never again." The crowd behind him roared and Orion frowned. Maybe he should have just stayed at home and asked someone in the kitchens for chocolate.

The man whipped out a knife and Orion stared at him. What did the man think he was going to do? Orion was not about to be killed by a muggle with a knife, screw the secrecy laws. It push came to shove, he'd snap the mans hand like a twig. He had no intention of surviving a war againt Voldemort, moving dimensions, living through becoming a vampire/werewolf hybrid and then being downed by a muggle with a knife.

Orion was actually a bit surprised that, what the man tried to stab him, he didn't have to dodge. The man had been aiming for his arm. It cut through his cloak and sweater to his skin underneath.

"Hey! That hurt!" Orion said.

"Because it's made of silver?" The muggle questioned haughtily.

"No, because you just cut me with a knife." Orion said it as if he was speaking to a slow child. The knife was made of silver, but that didn't really mean anything. Silver didn't affect him anymore that it had when he was human.

"And because it was made of silver!" Someone in the crowd shouted. Orion shook his head.

"Because the knife is sharp! How would you like to be cut with it?" Orion asked. These people were retarded. Probably too many generations of inbreeding, Orion decided.

"You're an idiot. Does this town sell chocolate or not? Because if it doesn't, I'm going to leave now." Orion turned to leave but found that he was surrounded. The crowd had officially achieved 'mob' status.

"We have him surrounded! Get him! Send a message to the monster!" They all started to descend on him, but were stopped as the storm clouds over head became darker. A man was suddenly standing on the well and the crowd shrank back.

"Well, well. What do we have here? It seems as though my town has decided to mob an unfortunate stranger." They all looked at the man fearfully, but Orion didn't understand why. This man wasn't that scary. Short light brown hair, tanned skin, fairly broad shoulders and, even crouching down as he was, Orion could tell that he was tall. Like every other vampire he'd ever met. The only slightly scary thing about him was the fact that his eyes were entirely black. No pupils, iris or white to his eyes. Just black.

"My apologies stranger. Would you care to tell me your name so that I can properly apologise for the behaviour of these people?"

"I'm Orion Dragomir."

"Vladimir's new Childe? I am sorry that I could not make it to your coming out ceremony. They have been awfully restless of late and I didn't want to chance anything." Orion nodded. That was fine, he wouldn't have noticed if the man had been there. And if he had, it would have been embarrassing for Orion now because he wouldn't have remembered his name. It was probably something stupid or ridiculously long.

"I am Luke."

Or maybe not.

"Once again I apologise for their behaviour. Is there anything that I can do to make up for it?" Orion thought for a second before smiling.

"Do you have any chocolate?"

++s

Three days later Orion arrived back at home to find everyone in a panic. He was going to ask Red what was going on, but the man looked very agitated and Orion didn't want to bother him. Besides, Orion couldn't remember if he was in the middle of a chocolate ban – and his arms were loaded with chocolates from Luke. Orion frowned as he approached his room. Red was always going on about how he needed a better diet.

'_If you eat chocolates all the time, you're going to become the size of this castle! How am I supposed to guide you if it takes me a day to circle you?' _

Orion had thought that was a bit harsh, but then red had given him a Caramello koala. And said it was the last one he could have for the day, but Orion had ignored him. After all, he had a stash in his room now.

Orion opened the door to his room and dropped the chocolates on his desk. Orion looked around. He could have sworn he'd just heard something. Orion walked towards his room. There, sitting on the bed, was Teddy. Orion rushed forward, sweeping his crying son up into his arms.

"Teddy! What's wrong baby? Are you okay?" Teddy looked up, red rimmed eyes widening.

"D-daddy?" He asked and Orion nodded. Teddy then flung his arms around Orions neck, screaming out his name.

Almost instantaneously his bedroom was filled with People. Noir, Vladimir, Emillie, Red, Geronimo, Cadfael, Achshiyarshu and even the twin maids. Orion smiled at them, then frowned. Why were they all looking at him like that?

"What's up everyone?" He asked.

"Where have you been for the last few days?" Noir's tone was deceptively pleasant. Orion shrugged, walking into the study where his chocolate were.

"I went to get some more chocolate, and Luke was kind enough to give me some. His villagers tried to mob me, and this was his apology." Luke had explained it all. He had been in possession of that land long before the humans had settled it, and when they had wanted to he had allowed it. Then he had decided that he wanted them to move their village into the compound of his castle – to protect them from other creatures of the night. They were his responsibility after all, living on his land as they were.

But they hadn't wanted to move, to fearful of a vampire. So, ever since, he'd been taking sacrifices once a month and moving them to his castle. No matter how many times he tried to persuade them, this was the only way he could relocate them.

"I left a note." Orion said as he opened a chocolate bunny.

"You mean the scrap of paper you taped to my door that says 'Going to get chocolate, be back soon – Orion'?" Noir asked and Orion nodded. That was the one.

"That would have explained being gone for an hour or two. Not for four days!" Red said and Orion looked at him.

"I didn't mean to be gone for that long, but Luke insisted that I stay. He was very hospitable."

"Orion, this Luke fellow – what did he look like?" it was Vladimir asking and Orion shrugged.

"About six foot five, light brown hair, broad shoulders, black eyes-"

"Holy shit." It was Cadfael that spoke.

"You just spent four days with Luke the Annihilator and are still alive." There was a moment of silence and calm before both Noir and Red stormed over to him and started to yell at him for how irresponsible he was.

"What? I don't see what your problem is!" Harry finally shouted back and Cadfael pulled both vampires back. Achshiyarshu stepped forward.

"Luke the Annihilator is a very old, very dangerous vampire. He is almost as powerful as our King and, before the Vampiric society was joined together in peace, he was also a King. King Luke the Annihilator made his way to the top by killing anyone is his path. And a lot of vampires were in his path. He would kill them by drinking his blood and absorbing their powers, which is why he's so strong even though he's definitely not as old as our King.

"The reason peace was called in because Luke was smart enough to realise that his forces were going to defect and knew he couldn't win without an army. He surrendered and was allowed to live. Since then he had taken over many muggle villages in several eastern European countries. Sometimes he wipes them out overnight, and sometimes he takes his time."

"I had no idea that he was in Romania." Emillie said and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well he didn't seem so bad. He gave me heaps of chocolates and we had a movie marathon and he even gave me a room in his castle and told me that I could come back whenever I wanted." Harry sounded like a child with their first friend.

"Well too bad. You'll never be going near him again." And Noir sounded like an angry parent. Noir, though Harry didn't know it, had history with Luke. A very bad, bloody history.

"You can't tell me what to do Noir!" Harry shouted, standing up from where he'd been sitting at his desk. He even squished some chocolate in the process of slamming his hands down. Teddy stood beside him, unsure what to do. Emillie quickly pulled him to her side and then ushered him out of the room.

This wouldn't be good for him to see.

"I forbid you from seeing him and Red agrees with me!" Harry looked to Red. His ice blue eyes were narrowed and he huffed. He didn't want to be pulled into Noirs fight with Harry, but he did agree. Though Red didn't say anything, Harry narrowed his eyes.

"I don't care what either of you think. You don't own me. I can do whatever I want. Right now, I could leave and you couldn't stop me!"

"Harry, we just worry about you. And it wasn't a very informative note." Red said and Harry glared at him.

"At least I left one!"

"But youre stupid chocolate obsession has gone too far!" Noir cut in and Harry glared at him.

"It's not an obsession. I just like chocolate." Whatever Noir opened his mouth to say was cut off by Dobby popping in.

"Master Ori! Dobby has a latter to you from Great Professor Dumblydoor! Dobby also has a job now!" Harry smiled at the house elf.

"That's great Dobby." Dobby handed him the letter.

"Call Dobby when you want to reply!" And then he popped out. Harry opened the letter, ignoring the way that everyone but Red and Noir left, and started to read.

_Dear Mr. Dragomir,_

_I am pleased to say that I was able to employ the house elf by the name of Dobby. He managed to haggle me down to being paid minimum wage and one day off a month. I don't think I've ever argued with a house elf before, and the novelty of the experience amuses me greatly. _

_I am, at the moment, having trouble looking for a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and wondered if you would like to apply for the position. All you need is a knowledge of the subject and the ability to read the course books. _

_I normally wouldn't ask but I'm afraid that I am desperate. If you are interested, I can interview you on the Thirtieth of June. If not, then I am sorry to have troubled you. _

_I look forward to your reply._

_Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. _

Harry looked up from the letter and glared at the two vampires there.

"Well it looks like you won't have to worry about me or my stupid chocolate obsession any more. I just got a job offer. I highly doubt that either of you will have to worry about me again." And Harry stalked out of the room, too angry to even grab a chocolate.


	8. Fifteen days

_**It's been a while, hasn't it? Or at least, it feels like it's been a while. The chapter isn't very good, but I felt inspired writing it. A certain reader made my brain explode. Thank you very much to that reader, and to every one else who reviewed/s. And everyone who doesn't review, because I love you all anyway. **_

Fifteen days.

It had been fifteen days since anyone had seen Orion. Teddy was, surprisingly, the only one in the know who wasn't running around like a headless chicken. Noir, for instance, was insistent that they had to find out where Orion was and, if necessary, storming the castle of Luke the Annihilator to get him back. He had made his way out of the castle, Vladimir walking next to him and trying to dissuade him.

When that failed, he let Red, Achshiyarshu, Cadfael and Geronimo stop him. They dragged him back inside and threw him on the ground, the four men holding him down as Vladimir locked the doors. They were in the dungeon cells and would be until Noir calmed down enough to not go rushing out to what would probably be his death.

"Red, let me up." The blonde haired man ignored him. Noir begged and pleaded and cursed and threatened for the next couple of hours, alternating between which vampires he'd abuse or plead with.

"Noir could you please shut up." Cadfael growled, tightening his grip on Noir, suppressing the urge to shut Noir up himself.

"No, Cadfael, I can't. Do you want to know why? Because the only thing I can think of is King Luke the Annihilator and those pre treaty days. I know you weren't alive then, Cadfael, but I can assure you once you fight on the same battle field as Luke, you never forget it. I know you three remember." Noir looked at the other three vampires who were old enough to remember the wars.

"He was horrible, Liberty. Adding 'the annihilator' to the end of his name wasn't just a P.R stunt. It was our side that came up with it in the first place. He would tear through the battle field, black eyes of the devil staring straight into your soul as he slammed his clawed hand through your stomach, just before his fangs ripped their way through your neck and drank your blood."

Cadfael frowned. A vampire could live through those injuries. They'd be in excruciating pain while they healed, but at least they'd be alive. The green haired vampire didn't really get why the other four, older, vampires were so against Luke.

"He was fearsome on the battlefield, but off the field he was brutal. He wanted to be the King, and whatever he wanted he got. He started off as a soldier and moved his way up through the army ranks with a mixture of talent and murder. He became the kings advisor because his previous one was found with his throat ripped out, the blood sucked from his body. And then, one day, the King disappeared. His body was never found." Cadfael looked at Achshiyarshu, as he'd continued for Geronimo. It was Red that picked up the story.

"He was actually a fairly descent leader. There was no poverty in his kingdom. Not even the humans were impoverished. He made sure that everyone under his protection was protected. The only downside was that no one had protection from him." Noir gave a snarl from the floor. He thrashed violently, fangs extending almost painfully and the four body guards had to be careful not to get hurt.

"He and Luke have...history." Achshiyarshu explained once Noir had calmed once again. Cadfael nodded. He would have guessed that, anyway. But he wasn't going to push. There was silence for awhile before Cadfael had an idea that would get all of them out of the dungeon.

"Noir, you should calm down. We want to let you out. After all, while you have to be restrained in here, poor little Teddy is up there all alone. He hasn't been sleeping well, you know." Noir stilled completely, and the other vampires in the dark cell with him, keeping him pinned to the dirty floor, could practically hear the wheels in his head turning.

"Let me out. _Now_. If Orion isn't here, then I have to look after Teddy for him. We're family." It only took five minutes for Vladimir to release them from the cell, and then the hunt was on for Teddy.

Fifteen days.

Teddy hadn't slept in his own bed in fifteen days. He had alternated between his fathers bed and the space underneath his fathers desk. Walking around the large mahogany desk, Teddy grabbed a piece of chocolate off the pile and got to his knees, crawling under the desk. Teddy knew that his father would be proud of him, sleeping within arm's reach of chocolate. He was hidden from the world, cocooned in blankets stolen from his fathers bed.

Teddy wasn't panicking like the rest of his make shift family because of Dobby. Every day, when Teddy was alone, Dobby would pop in as quietly as possible and hand him a small note, give him a hug and then pop back out again. Teddy knew that Dobby had a job, but was glad the elf was still taking the time to give him notes from his father. The notes were almost always the same.

_Teddy, I'm fine. Don't worry. I'm eating so much chocolate you could sell me. You should eat some chocolate as well; it'll make you feel better. You'll see me soon, promise._

The most recent note, the note Teddy was clutching to his chest like he'd die without it, said that he'd be coming home as soon as he could. And don't forget to make sure everyone has been eating their chocolate. _Wouldn't want them to get cranky without their fix. _Even though Teddy knew that Orion was the only one to get chocolate withdrawals.

Sitting under the desk, wrapped in a thick blanket and eating expensive chocolate, Teddy wanted his daddy to come home. That was the real reason that he sleep under the desk, rather than access to chocolate. If he wanted chocolate, all he'd have to do is ask or just sniff out one of his father's numerous stashes. Teddy, as a born werewolf, would not transform until he hit puberty (His father had joked that it was a small drop in the sea of horror that is adolescence). But Teddy still had the enhanced senses of a werewolf. And Teddy could identify each person he'd ever met by smell.

Orion smelled like hazelnut chocolate, mint and happiness.

Teddy has never met another person who smelt like happiness. They can smell _of_ happiness, indicating that they're happy, but they've never had happiness as a part of their base scent. It was how Teddy knew his Daddy wasn't evil when a couple of people from his old world had tried to convince him of it. Evil people don't smell like happiness, ever, and so their base smell could never include happiness.

Teddy finished off the chocolate and heard the door to his daddy's rooms open. Taking a deep breath, the little werewolf filtered through the smells and felt his hope wilt as he smelt Noir. Noir smelt like steel, blood and vanilla.

"Teddy? You in here?" Teddy crawled out from under the desk and popped his head around. Noir smiled at him, walking forward.

"It's getting close to dawn, you know. Almost time for you to be getting to bed." Teddy rolled his eyes. He would go to bed, but wouldn't sleep. Even if his father wasn't missing, he always read a book until he felt tired enough to sleep.

"I'll tuck you in." Teddy let Noir pick him up. He was bright for a seven year old, and knew that Noir needed this more than he did. After all, he was seven years old now, not a child. Noir carried him into his father's room and pulled down the blankets, placing Teddy in the centre. Sitting there, Teddy felt a bit lonely. His father had a king sized bed which was so deliriously fluffy and soft.

But it just felt empty.

So Teddy stopped Noirs hand when he went to pull up the blankets.

"Can you stay here Noir? I don't want to be alone." If anyone had asked, Teddy would firmly deny that his voice wavered. He was a big boy, and he was going to grow up and be like Noir and Red and his daddy's poker buddies. He was going to be completely awesome and tough. Tough kids don't cry.

"Of course I'll stay, Teddy." And he slipped in next to the child, pulling the blankets over the two of them and hugging Teddy tightly to his chest. They were silent and eventually Noirs breathing evened out. It took a lot of experience to resist sleep in the delicious heaven that was the king sized bed of Orion.

A few hours passed and the bedroom door quietly clicked open. Teddy opened his dull forest green eyes and spotted Red standing there, looking at the two of them. Teddy threw back the covers on the side that Noir wasn't on and patted them all without waking the man sleeping next to him. Red hovered for a few more seconds before giving in and walking over. He sat on the edge of the bed and took a few seconds to unlace his thick combat boots, before he finally slipped them off and into the bed.

He stared up at the ceiling, Teddys small hand cradled in his. He too would have cuddled the child, but Noir was holding onto the shape shifting werewolf like a life preserver and Red needed all of his limbs to work.

"Orion, what are you doing here?" After storming out of the castle in a huff and leaving his chocolate, Orion could only think of one reasonable place to go.

"Hi Luke. I had a fight with Noir and Red. Can I stay with you for a night or two while I cool off?" Luke had obviously been surprised that someone was knocking at his castle door but had let him in anyway, a smile playing on his very handsome features.

"Of course you can stay here to cool off. I'm just glad you thought to come to me." Honestly, Orion had absolutely no where else to go that wasn't a cave. But he was friends with Luke, and didn't want to insult him, so he just smiled and nodded.

The two of them walked through the halls of Luke's castle and Orion smiled. He had never seen another person in the castle except for Luke, but he didn't really mind because he couldn't wait to get to his room. The bed was at least twice the size of his own at the Dragomir castle, and there was a massive movie screen on one of the walls.

It was where they'd had their movie marathon.

"I have procured some new movies, if you want to watch them. And I know that you didn't get to watch all the ones that you wanted last time..." Luke trailed off, easily keeping step with the shorter form of Orion.

"Movie Marathon." They nodded together before Luke ran his eyes over Orion, raising an eyebrow.

"You haven't eaten all that chocolate already, have you?" Orion could decide whether to laugh or scowl. So he gave a little chuckle with a hybrid pout-frown stuck to his face.

"I left the stuff you gave me in my room. I didn't even remember to grab some as I left. I just hope Teddy is eating it for me. Oh! I should let him know that I'm okay." They'd reached Orions room and the dimension traveller ran in and jumped on his bed. He was still for a moment, revelling in the wondrous bed, before calling for his foolproof way of talking to Teddy without leaving the bed.

"Dobby!" Luke watched, slightly suspicious of the house elf, as Orion penned a quick note and sent Dobby off with it. Luke kicked off his shoes and eased himself onto the bed next to Harry, the leather he was wearing creaking softly.

"Die hard or Rush hour, first?" Orion ummed and ahhed for a few seconds before choosing Die Hard. Then they would watch Rush hour.

"Yippee kai-aye." Luke muttered as he got up and put the first movie in. He settled down next to Orion and the marathon was started.

Fifteen days later Orion realised that he had stayed away for far, far too long. He hadn't meant to stay away for so long, but Luke had seduced him with so much chocolate and movies and delicious coffee.

There really was no way that Orion could have resisted.

He'd lost track of the days, and the nights. Because there were no windows in the room that weren't blacked out. Sunlight gave most vampires...sunburn. So there was no way to tell the time, as Orion didn't wear a watch. It was only because Dobby had told him the date that Orion had realised that he'd been at Luke's for fifteen days.

After thanking Luke profusely for allowing him to stay, and taking some chocolate from the road, Orion left and wandered back to his own home. It was mid morning by the time he arrived, and he felt like a naughty teenager sneaking back into the house. The only good thing was that, because of the daylight, the only people awake were the human servants and Orion easily avoided them.

He slipped silently back into his rooms and placed down his remaining chocolate, pleased to see he had a lot of his chocolates left, but that Teddy had obviously eaten a few as well.

Orion stood at his desk and pulled off his shoes, placing them softly on the rug. He then padded over to his bedroom, aware that there were people in there. Asleep people. He didn't want to wake them up, but there was just enough room for him to squeeze through the door without moving it. Upon doing so, Orion was met by one of the most adorable sights he'd ever seen.

Noir was on one side of the bed, Teddy clutched slightly to his chest in his sleep. Teddy had reverted back to his normal features in his sleep, with honey coloured hair, slightly tanned skin and if his eyes were open they would have been amber. On the other side of Teddy was a sleeping Red, who looked more relaxed than Orion had ever seen him. His arm was extended and Teddy was using it as a pillow.

Orion smiled to himself as he slipped off his outer robes, wanting badly to have a shower, but just deciding to jump in bed and sleep with his son, Noir and Red. He dropped his socks next to the robes and sniffed his tee shirt to make sure it didn't smell too bad.

Quietly as he could, Orion walked around the bed and used the headboard to climb into the bed, slipping into the space between Teddy and Red. Red's other arm wrapped itself around Orions waist, and the man worried he'd been caught, but Reds breathing hadn't changed and the man was still firmly asleep.

It only took a few minutes until Orion was sleeping as soundly as the other three.


	9. Waking up

_**Crap, I thought that I'd uploaded this ages ago. I have several more chapters ready to go and then I find out this isn't up. Sorry, my bad. **_

The downside to going to sleep has always been, and will always be, waking up. Normally you are nice and warm, snuggled deep into the covers. You wake up and realise that you'll have to get up. That you have to move and shake off the lethargy. But this time was even worse for Orion, purely because he knew that as soon as he woke up, he'd probably be in trouble. Well, not probably. Definitely.

After disappearing for fifteen days, and then reappearing suddenly in the middle of the night (or day, depending on what schedule you ran on). Not only did he not even bother to wake anyone up, but he just snuggled down in his bed and went to sleep. And now he was the only one in the room still 'asleep.' And he so didn't want to wake up, because it would be much easier if he didn't, but Red had just walked into the room with coffee.

Wonderful, life giving coffee.

Slowly, very slowly, Orion cracked open his eyes and peered around the room. Teddy was seated next to him, reading a small book. Noir was seated at the end of the bed, back to Orion, a cup of something that smelled deliciously like blood in his hands. Red was the only one looking at him, a smirk on his face as he held the cup of coffee.

Orion looked straight into his eyes, and Red's smirk widened as he lifted the cup to his mouth and took a drink. The look on his face stated clearly that the coffee was _the_ best he'd _ever_ tasted and, even though Orion knew he was being overly dramatic just to tease him, Orion wanted the coffee.

Orion cracked as Red pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket and unwrapped it. A chokito. The bastard. Orions hand wandered out from under the covers, completely without his consent, and started towards the teasing vampire's coffee cup, while Orion himself moved as silently as he could over to where the chocolate bar was dangling from Red's fingers.

"Damn it, Orion!" Orions fingers, so close to the coffee cup, snapped back as his head twisted around. He looked at a clearly upset Noir. Orion offered up a sheepish smile, fully prepared to give an apology as to why he was away for so long.

"Why couldn't you have held out for another fifteen seconds?" Noir held up a stop watch, which had been stopped at forty five seconds and twenty three milliseconds. Orion looked confused, and Teddy giggled as he jumped into his fathers lap.

"I'm ... a bit confused." Orion was, indeed. Shouldn't they all be throwing things and yelling, and doing mean things to innocent chocolate – like throwing it away – to get back at him and his thoughtless absence?

"All's normal, then?" Orion turned to Red, who still had a cheeky smile on his face.

"Oh, ha, ha. Just tell me what's going on." Teddy nodded excitedly as Noir rummaged around in his jacket pocket, pulling out his wallet. He was grumbling some very things that were very inappropriate to say in a room that contained a child. But Orion would let it slide, purely because Teddy had heard it all before. From him. He didn't really want to be hypocritical, especially since that would probably break the illusion of everything being all right – people would start to throw things, then.

"Well, we made a bet. Noir bet that you would hold out a minute before you tried to get the coffee and chocolate even with me watching, Teddy bet forty seven seconds and I bet forty six. So I win the money. And Teddy gets to order Noir around for a day, because Noir lost." Orion turned to Noir, completely appalled.

"Noir! I'm appalled with you. A minute? An entire minute? Either you severely over estimate my will power regarding chocolate, or you just don't know me." Noir rolled his eyes, throwing some money at Red while Teddy bounced up and down on Orions lap. Orion was, more than slightly, surprised that he wasn't getting yelled at, or on the end of some icy death glares.

"So, Daddy, where were you? In the notes you sent me, you never said where you were." Orion cringed as Teddy just woke up the elephant in the room. Noir had frozen, and Red took another drink from the coffee mug and a bite of the chocolate.

"I was at a friends place, Teddy. We had a huge movie marathon. You would not believe how large his bed is...er...but now I'm back." Orion could have kicked himself, especially when Noir jerked violently at the mention of a bed. Red placed the, now empty, coffee mug on the bedside table and took a really, really large bite out of the chocolate bar.

"Did you have fun with your friend, Daddy? Do I get to meet him? You're not having unprotected sex, are you?" Orions eyes fluttered closed, and he hung his head. He would never stop regretting introducing Teddy to the blasted Weasley family. Their many progeny, who delighted in torturing Orion about his sexual exploits and his sexuality in general, had contaminated – infected! – his precious little son.

"And on that note, I think I need a drink of something stronger than coffee." Red stood up. Some vampires could eat and drink normal foods, even though it did nothing to sustain them, and others died from ingesting just the slightest bit of human food. It was an odd phenomenon that Orion was grateful he did not have to worry about. Burning up from where the food touched his insides didn't sound pleasant.

And Orion was secretly worried that, even if he couldn't eat human food, he'd chance it just to eat his chocolate and drink his coffee. Actually, thinking back on it, it was a stupid idea to have him test out whether he could have human food by giving him some coffee to drink.

"Can I go get you something? I want to tell everyone that Daddy is back." And then Teddy was out of the room to spread the news and get Red some strong coffee. Not what Red had been aiming for, but he didn't really want to send a child to get him some booze.

"So...slightly awkward." Orion said, and Noir looked over at him, shaking his head.

"You have no idea, Orion." Noir stood up then, and stretched. Orion smiled at him and bit his lip, taking a deep breath.

"Just to let you know, I have a job interview tomorrow...so I'll probably be gone." Noir and Red both looked at him, Red sitting back down in his chair and Noir flopping gracefully onto the bed.

"Where is the interview?" Red asked, tilting his head ever so slightly as he passed the remainder of the chocolate bar to Orion. Orion knew that he was probably being bribed to talk, but as he shoved the chocolate into his mouth he didn't really care. It wasn't a secret, and he was going to tell them anyway.

"At Hogwarts. Dumbledore offered me a job as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. It should be fun. The interview starts at seven in the evening. You two can come if you want, I'm bringing Teddy along. I really want to get the job. I mean, I love it here but I'm starting to get bored, and feel a bit like a middle aged man crashing with his parents. Can I have some more chocolate?" Red rolled his eyes, and threw an aero bar at Orion.

"One, I take offence to that. And two, I am defiantly coming with you. You might get lost on your way back from Scotland and we'll never see you again." Orion looked at Noir as he unwrapped the delicious chocolate.

"The only reason that you'd take offense to that is if you _were_ a middle aged man crashing with his parents, or felt like one, and I wouldn't get lost...I'd just take a detour on the road that is life." Red snorted, rolling his eyes as he stood up. Orion was thankful that he had skilfully averted impending doom by changing the conversation subject.

Now all he needed to do was avoid the subject of Luke for the rest of their undead lives and all would be well. But since that wasn't going to happen, Orion was just hoping for a job so that he could get away and then everyone would forget about the subject of _King Luke the Annihilator_. And that he'd let slip he'd been in the mans bed. Nothing had happened, but Orion had found out that people he knew got very protective. Orion would still visit him, of course, he just wouldn't advertise it. And then maybe everything would be amazingly simple and elephant free.

At exactly seven o'clock the fire in Dumbledores office flared up, flames turning a bright green to signal someone coming through the floo. The first person to come through the floo glided gracefully out. Crimson hair was pulled back into a low pony tail and he looked around the room, nodding to Dumbledore before moving out of the floo. The next person to come through was probably the same height as the first man, with short blonde hair that reminded Dumbledore strongly of a Malfoy. His silver piercings glinted in the last of the natural light, before the sky became completely dark and the lamps in the office flickered to life.

The next person to come through the floo was shorter than the other two. And he didn't glide out of the floo. He fell out, and was saved from slamming his face into the carpet by the blonde man. The shorter man smiled, righting himself in time to help another figure from the fireplace. This figure was the shortest – by a lot. The fire died down, with the tallest two men as far away from the fire as was possible to be.

"Hello Headmaster Dumbledore." It was the figure who had a not so graceful exit from the fire place, and Dumbledore assumed that that was Orion Dragomir.

"Hello Mr. Dragomir." Dumbledore said, and was proven right by the smile and wave in his general direction.

"Just call me Orion. There are technically three other Mr. Dragomir's in existence and two are in the room. It could get a bit confusing." Dumbledore nodded, understanding his predicament.

"As long as you call me Albus." Orion smiled, nodded and taking a seat when Albus indicated for him to, with Teddy jumping into his lap. Albus looked at the two tall men who seemed to be content just standing in the room.

"Would you two like a seat?" He asked, and both shook their heads. Orion rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"You should just ignore them, Albus. I recently went away and they missed me. Didn't want me out of their sights. The one on the left is Noir Dragomir, and the blonde one is Red – my bodyguard. I would say they're perfectly harmless, but that's a lie. Just ignore them; it's what I do half the time." All this was said with a smile, and Albus laughed. What a happy, free spirited lad. Teddy waved from Orions laps, and Albus reached over the desk to shake his hand.

"Hello young man, you must be Theodore. Dobby speaks of you often. Would you care for a lemon drop?" Teddy smiled, nodding.

"Hello Albus. My daddy says that you're a really good person, so the Stranger Danger rule doesn't apply so yes, I will have a lemon drop." Teddy took one from the jar and popped it into his mouth. Albus smiled and had one himself, looking back to Orion. He had no idea what 'Stranger Danger' was, of course he got the concept, but he had no idea what it had to do with lemon drops. But it was probably a sensible rule if it kept young children away from stranger – especially in this volatile climate.

"So, let's start the interview. Do you have any experience teaching children?" He asked. Orion nodded.

"When I was younger I taught a group of kids some basic defence." Noir snorted behind him, and all attention shot to him. Orion glared at him, but the man looked unrepentant.

"Excuse my interruption, but Orion did not teach basic defence. He taught a group of people from the age of thirteen to seventeen things from stunning spells to corporal patronus'." Albus raised an eyebrow, happy smile on his face.

"Interesting. You can produce a corporal patronus?" He asked and Orion nodded, drawing his wand and easily conjuring Prongs. Except, it wasn't Prongs. His animagus was no longer a magnificent Stag but...some sort of moving shadow. It hardly looked corporal.

"Daddy, what happened to the stag?" Teddy asked, and Orion frowned, flicking his wand to the side, and his new patronus lunged to the side, briefly taking a vaguely humanoid form before melting back into a shadow that moved and twisted, sometimes taking half a shape of something before it melted back into an indistinguishable mess.

"I have no idea. My patronus has changed. Most...odd." Albus looked at the patronus intently as it turned towards its conjuror and glided forward, a hand emerging briefly from the swirling mess to touch Orions head, before the entire patronus faded.

"Do you know how patronus are made, and how they get there forms?" Albus asked, and Orion shook his head. He'd never studied the theory too much. Actually, he'd never studied the theory at all.

"A patronus is powered by happy memories, and the form is chosen to represent a thing that you either admire greatly, an animal that your personality resembles or something that you believe can protect you." Orion nodded. That made sense. Orion admired his father greatly, and had known since the incident in his third year that the stag would protect him.

"But the form of a patronus can change if its master has gone through any major change on a mental, emotional or even physical level. I assume that that is what has happened. I cannot explain the form, or rather the lack of solid form, which your patronus is displaying however." Orion nodded. He had recently switched dimensions and been turned into a never before heard of vampire werewolf hybrid.

"So, shall we continue on with our interview?" Orion nodded, and for the next couple of hours Orion answered Albus' questions with ease. At nine o'clock the interview ended, and Albus shook hands with Orion, as well at Teddy.

"I will have to talk to my Deputy before I officially hire you for a position, Orion, but I'm pretty sure you have the job. And we'll even be able to accommodate if your bodyguard decides to accompany you." Orion smiled. That was great! Teddy was, of course, going to be living with him at the castle, but if Red came then there would hardly be a reason to leave his room outside of classes.

Orion was about to open his mouth to respond when there was a large burst of flames, startling Noir and Red enough for the two warriors to draw weapons and pull Orion and Teddy behind them. Harry laughed at them, pushing past to pet Fawkes. The phoenix puffed his chest out at the attention of Harry and Teddy, before he flapped his wings – sending the sorting hat off its shelf and to the ground.

The old hat cracked its nonexistent eyes open and glared around the room.

"What do you think you're doing disturbing me from my sleep? I was so close to completing this years song when I was knocked awake – and now I'll have to start again. Ah, who do we have here?" He peered around the room, ignoring Fawkes and Dumbledore. He gave short glances to Noir, Red and Teddy, before he spotted Orion. His creepy non-existent eyes widened, and he let out some sort of indistinguishable holler.

Everyone in the room turned to look at a part of the wall in the circular office. The stone seemed to melt away, revealing a staircase that descended. Orion was the closet, and he stepped through and onto the first step. As soon as both of his feet were on the step, the stones started to melt back together.

And then Harry was tackled to the ground by Noir and Red, who had used their vampiric speed to enter the steep staircase before it was closed off, and the three of them rolled down the long, seemingly never ending staircase, until they hit very, very hard stone. Orion groaned as he felt bones that had snapped on his journey down mend themselves. Noir and Red would most definitely regret tackling him down a stone set of stairs.

"Well, well, look what we have here."

I think the end of this chapter feels a bit rushed, but you should tell me what _you_ think. Like in a review. That was about as subtle as a cattle prod in the eye.


	10. We're off to see the Wizard

A.N: Hellooooo! Readers, I have taken long to deliver little. I was lazy, uninspired and then had exams. I'm pretty sure my uninspired-ness had something to do with the studying for my exams. But now I am inspired again, partly because exams are over and it's holidays, partly because I have caught up on much needed sleep. I hope you enjoy this chapter, short as it is, and hopefully there will be another chapter soonish. I don't own this, just to let anyone and everyone know.

xxx

The room was dark, fireplace in the corner little more than embers. All three immortals could see through the darkness, however, and so they were quickly put at ease. There were five portraits on 'four people, each of which belonged to one of the other portraits that were hung in the stone room.

"Hello visitors! Welcome! Hey, Salazar, that guy looks like you!" The man speaking was someone Orion recognised from his own universe. Of course, he looked different to his ghost counterpart, but Godric Gryffindor was hyperactive in any universe. Dark reddish brown hair, dark blue eyes and a huge, excitable smile.

"Why yes, he does have a resemblance to you Salazar." Helga Hufflepuff was very beautiful, long golden hair and cornflower blue eyes. Next to her was Rowena Ravenclaw. Midnight black blue hair, black eyes and a softly calculating expression. The biggest shock, though, was the person who was obviously Salazar Slytherin. He looked almost exactly like Orion.

Except, to Orion's dismay, more masculine.

"You're right. He does look like me. You, boy, what is your name?" Orion disentangled himself from the other two vampires and approached the portrait.

"Orion. It's...ah...nice to meet you?" Orion half said, half asked, and gave a slight bow to the portraits. Godric gave an excitable clap of his hands.

"Salazar! You've returned to us. How marvellous. It's brilliant that you've decided to get off your high horse and visit. You're wife misses you...or, she missed you. She had a child! He was an adorable little tyke. Truly. Gave my son a bit of trouble, and got him into to a lot of it too. My father swore up and down that we were exactly the same." Salazar rolled his eyes.

"I seem to remember that it was you who got me into trouble, not the other way around." Salazar said, and then all four faces turned expectantly towards Orion as Rowena asked her question.

"So, where have you been for the past thousand odd years, Salazar?" She asked and Orion glared at Noir, who was quietly laughing behind him.

"Unfortunately, Ms, Ravenclaw, I am not Salazar Slytherin. I'm Orion Dragomir. A vampire were wolf hybrid, who doesn't actually belong in this dimension." The four people looked at him, unimpressed.

"Honestly, Salazar. That was the worst lie you've ever come up with. That thousand years hasn't helped your mind." Godric said, with a snigger, to both Orion and Salazar, the latter of who rolled his eyes.

"The hybrid is telling the truth. He is not me. As you can see, I am much more masculine, and our eyes are different colours." Rowena beckoned him forward, and Orion complied. She leant over and it looked as if she was about to fall out of the frame. After a few moments, she straightened up.

"Salazar is right. Salazars eyes are a shade deeper than the fluorescent viridian which Orion possesses." There was a moment of silence, and Noir and Red took the opportunity to approach and stand where Orion was. Orion glared at Salazar, still a little sore at the call against his masculinity, no matter how true it may or may not have been.

"So, if you're not Salazar, who are you? And, how on Earth did you get down here?" Helga asked, tilting her head. Orion shrugged. It was the fault of the sorting hat – as most things inevitably wound back to it seemed – that he was down here. And that one of his ribs was now healed the wrong way. He'd have to get that rebroken later.

"I was born with the name Harry Potter. And I'm not actually from this..."

"Universe." Noir put in helpfully, and Rowena smiled.

"Really? That's fascinating. How did you get to this dimension? Are things the same? Are there any major differences? What of Hogwarts in the other universe? Are there multiple universes? Which universe do you like better? Do the people you know have the same or different personalities? Are there people here who don't exist there or vice versa? What about -"

"Rowena, give the lad a chance to breathe and answer the questions you've already asked." Salazar, it seemed was a rather grounding force for the group. Orion hadn't expected that.

"In answer to your questions, I have no idea. Some things are the same, major differences are too many to name. Hogwarts in the other universe was taken over by an evil wizard. I have no idea, once again. This one seems to be working out better for me and some people have the same personalities, some do not. People here exist and people there do not. Some have lived, others never born. It can get a bit confusing."

She nodded, thinking for a moment, before smiling.

"You said 'Potter?' Last name of Potter? That is an amusing coincidence. I'm not sure if it is in your world, but I know something interesting about the Potters in this world." Orion raised an eyebrow, and she smirked.

"The Potter line is, in this world, the result of the Gryffindor line and the Slytherin line mixing. Making you, well the other you of this world, the heir to both houses." Orion nodded, before his eyes were drawn to Salazar and Godric, both of whom looked horrified.

"My children...reproduced...with dunces like you?" Salazar asked, turning towards Godric. The red headed man shuddered.

"My family's crest is now some weird lion hybrid. Probably a orange snake with a scaly mane. Or a snake in lions skin!" The other founders ignored him, but Red and Noir gave him weird looks. Orion took a cue from the founders and ignored him.

"Well, at least he got lucky with the way he looks. It almost negates the contamination of Godrics brood." Godric tisked at his friend, shaking his head. He placed a hand on Salazars arm.

"Salazar, Salazar, Salazar. He is, obviously, traumatised by being cursed with such terrible luck as to look like you. As such, he's come to his ancestor, me, to beg for a way to become as dashing as I am." Salazar opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by Helga.

"Now, children, I'm sure we can play nicely together. Or maybe you both need a time out." Orion sniggered, his amusement coming from a mixture of Helga's patronising tone and the fact that it worked.

"We will behave Helga." Salazar said graciously, turning back to Noir, Red and Orion.

"So, back to the question at hand, how did you find yourselves down here?" Orion shrugged, turning towards Red and Noir.

"The Sorting Hat woke up." Red didn't have to say any more, because all of the founders (bar Godric) groaned.

"What's wrong with the sorting hat?" Orion asked, and Godric scowled.

"Nothing. There is nothing wrong with my hat." Rowena scoffed.

"That hat is a product of a bet between Salazar and his Uncle. Salazars Uncle bet that Godric was so dumb that even his hat was smarter than him. Salazar took the bet." Salazars scowl deepened.

"Terribly sorry that I over estimated the intelligence of my best friend. It hasn't happened since, I assure you." Helga smiled at Salazar, patting his arm.

"Oh Sally, how were you to know that your Uncle enchanted the hat?" Orion chocked on his own laughter at Salazars nickname.

"Sally?" He asked, and then Godric, Noir, Red and Orion howled with laughter. The founder of the snake house rolled his eyes.

"Yes, yes, I have a nickname. I've just thought of something important. Listen." And they did. Twenty minutes later, the three immortals ascended the staircase which lead to Dumbledores office and, seven and a half minutes after that, they emerged.

Dumbledore was sitting there, chatting amicably to Teddy, with the sorting hat on the desk in between them. Dumbledores eyes flicked up as the stone wall slide open.

He had been extremely curious when the three of them disappeared, and the wall had sealed shut behind them. The sorting had had then received a thorough interrogation, and Teddy had tried to be helpful but only ended up inflaming Dumbledores curiosity.

With all the things said it seemed like...it couldn't be possible...could it? No, no. Surely not. Orion Dragomir couldn't...but that wasn't the point of the meeting. He should announce that the petite vampire now had a job.

"Welcome back Orion. While you were gone, I had time to think and I would like to take this opportunity to be the first to welcome you to the staff of Hogwarts." Orion smiled, nodding.

"Thankyou Headmaster. I will be good to be back in the castle again." Teddy cheered.

"Yay! I know how much you've missed Hogwarts, daddy." Orion nodded, and thanked Dumbledore once more.

"Term starts September first, but as a teacher you are required to arrive at Hogwarts at least two days earlier. Most members of staff arrive a week earlier to get everything in order." Orion nodded, and soon enough the two vampires, one werewolf and a hybrid of the two flooed back to Eastern Europe, several time zones away, to announce to Vladimir and Emilie that Orion had a job. Which would mean that, soon enough, the entire vampiric community would be aware of that.

Orion was already working out a plan to sneak out and see Luke to tell him the news. He didn't get out much, you see, though Orion couldn't think of why. He was really very nice, and the past is the past, after all.

Well, normally at least.

"Oh, I can't believe zat you're leaving 'ome so soon. You are just a little boy – not ready for ze world." Orion smiled at Emile, giving her a tight hug. She was getting teary. She pulled back from the hug, holding him at arms length and looking him up and down.

"At least you look nice for ze job. I am so proud of you – such initiative! You will be'ave, won't you?" She asked sternly, through her gathering tears, and Orion smiled wider. With his birth mother, from his home world at least, dead, he'd never had someone do this for him. The closest person was Molly Weasley, but a lot of the time she kept away, not wanting to overstep boundaries that Harry would never have put up. Orion reflected that he, Harry, had been quite a needy child. And no one had been there.

Except to tell him to eat more.

"I will do my very best to be respectable, and to make you proud. And I will be back. It's not as if I'm going to disappear into the ether." The feeling felt nice.

"I know, I know, but…my little boy is growing up. I zink I was zinking to be waiting for a long time before you left." Orion leant forward and kissed her forehead.

"I'll see if I can visit over Christmas. Or maybe the other way around. I'm sure parents are allowed to visit, even if I am a teacher. What do you think?" She beamed at him, and he was glad he'd decided to refer to her as one of his parents. She looked so happy. Tears were just about to fall, when Noir grew bored with the touching moment.

"He's not dying, or anything." Orion cringed as a fire alit in Emilie's eyes. She span around, glaring at Noir.

"No, he's not. Alzough, he is ze younger Childe, by a zousand or so years, and 'e's still leaving 'ome first. What does zat mean for you, eh? No job, no wife and children, not even a girlfriend? Are you lazy? Stupid? Impotent? What? When you finally get a job or leave 'ome, zen I shall make fuss over you, Qui?" Noir nodded sheepishly, hunching in on himself.

Orion, Teddy and Vladimir sniggered at him, but quickly blanked their faces when Emilie turned back to Orion. She smiled at him again, and he was pulled into a bone crushing hug. Literally. Orion shifted a bit once he'd been released, realigning his spin and wincing as a rib cracked back into place. Maybe he should avoid Emilie when he came back, if only just to avoid injury.

Orion turned to Vladimir, while Emilie turned her affection and attention onto Teddy.

"Ah, my Childe, I am proud of you. You have made a fine addition to the community and to my family. I am sad to see you go, but happy for your life. And we will celebrate Yule together. Regardless of where we do it, or what it takes for us to come together as a family." Orion was pulled into another hug which was, thankfully, not as bone crushing as Emilie's. Orion just had to catch his breath.

Orion turned to Noir, where the man was still half sulking in the shadows from being told off by Emilie.

"You don't have to go, you know." He said, bottom lip protruding so far that Orion was worried it would start to form a gravitational field. Rolling his eyes, Orion pulled Noir in for a hug.

"Don't worry, Noir. We have ways to communicate, and Teddy and I will be perfectly fine. After all, Red is coming with us. I'll even send you some chocolate from Hogsmeade." Orion promised, and Noir gave a half smile, returning the hug. Orion pulled away, and Noir went back to sulking as the hybrid pulled Teddy from one of Emilie's death inducing hugs and towards the floo.

"Until Yule." Vladimir said and Emilie threw herself at his side. Red moved towards the fireplace, standing just behind Orion and Teddy. Noir gave a wave and Red and Orion nodded back, while Teddy waved frantically.

"Until Yule." Orion said, before the three of the stepped into the fire, disappearing with a _whoosh_ of green flames, Orions words being half dragged away with them.

"_Hogwarts."_


	11. Arriving

Orion was glad that it was a group floo travel to Hogwarts this time. Orion would be meeting Professor McGonagall for the 'first time,' as well as the three other heads of houses. He didn't want her first impression of him to be him flying out of the floo, sprawled on the carpet. Thankfully, Reds hand was a reassuring weight on the small of his back and when Orion exited the swirl of green flames, his stumble was halted by Reds arm and covered up by Teddys own stagger.

Orion was glad that he wasn't the only person to stumble out of the horrid fireplaces – even if Teddy was a child. The number of people Orion had seen who couldn't walk out of a floo place could be counted on one hand.

Orion gave a large smile and a wave to everyone in the room as Red surreptitiously moved away to a position that enabled him to better view every ones actions. Orion had told him about the almost instinctual hate that Severus Snape had harboured for him in his original universe, and Red would keep a close eye on the Potions Master.

"Good Evening Orion, Teddy and you as well Red." Teddy waved joyfully, running over to Dumbledores desk and asking politely for a lemon drop. Red gave a curt nod, and Orion gave another wave.

"Pleasant Morning Albus!" Orion said, looking out of the window and at the setting sun. Orion had been worried about Red coming with him, because of the fact that he didn't teach astronomy and would no longer be nocturnal. As it turns out, though, Red is a very, very lucky vampire. He can go out in the sun, just not for very long. He can't be out in direct sunlight for anymore than five minutes, but he can be in something like a class room easily, and with the added protection of a wizarding charm that acted like sunscreen, Red can even watch a sunrise.

He preferred sunset, though.

"These are the four heads of houses; Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout. They teach -" Orion cut Dumbledore off with a smile.

"I know Albus; you forget how extensive our networks are. It's a pleasure to meet you all, I am Orion Dragomir. This is my son Theodore, and my body guard Red." Orion inclined his head respectfully to them all, while politely ignoring their extended hands. Orion was actually grateful to Snape for not extending his hand.

"Bodyguard? Surely there is no need for that!" Pomona said jovially, and Orion smiled, shaking his head while Red answered.

"It is a necessary precaution. Although the enemies from his past life are gone, he attracts trouble like a magnet. A powerful magnet." Orion nodded, shrugging.

"Noir would have never let me leave Romania, let alone the castle, if Red hadn't been accompanying me. And Emillie would have been very angry if Teddy was unprotected." Albus nodded, standing from behind his desk and ushering them out of his office and down to the Great Hall.

"Dinner is almost ready. Until the students arrive, the usual one table in the centre of the room shall suffice but, when the students come, I shall have to extend the staff table." He said, gesturing to Red. The warrior shook his head.

"The sentiment is appreciated, but unnecessary. I am here in an official capacity. If anything happens to Orion, then I am at fault. I will not be eating with you." Minerva nodded, an approving look on her face.

"That is very professional of you, Mr. Red." Teddy laughed.

"You don't work in the same job for hundreds of years without being good." Orion was greatly amused with the general confusion that surrounded the teachers. Obviously Dumbledore had not yet informed them exactly what the castles newest inhabitants were. Orion chuckled as they approached the Great Hall, the familiarity of it making him happier than normal. Which actually had the potential to be quite scary.

"Albus was probably going to tell you soon, but I'll tell you now. Red is a vampire, as am I. Don't worry, the kids will be safe. The only midnight snacks I indulge in will involve chocolate. Or maybe Achshiarshu, if I can smuggle him in." Red shook his head as they moved towards the table in the centre of the room.

"Sheba? Really? I didn't know you thought of him like that." Red said, and Teddy laughed, nodding his head.

"Oh yeah! Daddy thinks Sheba is just the most amazing thing ever. You should watch his face when Sheba talks, he only vaguely hears the words. He likes Shabas voice, and I'm pretty sure he imagines what that mouth could do besides talk." Orion was horrified, slapping a hand over Teddys mouth.

"Hush! Gods, sometimes I swear I don't know what happened to you. You were such a sweet boy." Orion said, shaking his head and trying to dissipate the blush on his cheeks. The rest of the staff were looking on with great amusement.

"You happened to me, Daddy. And Cadfael. He's very graphic." Orion shook his head, muttering about Irish whelps.

"Do not worry, Orion. The next time we see them, you can tell Cadfael to stop corrupting your son. While you do that, I believe it's my duty to tell Sheba that you don't listen to him. Then, of course, I shall be forced to tell him why." Teddy laughed, Albus chuckled and the heads of houses were all smiling. Except for Snape, but he seemed not to be paying much attention to the conversation. He was looking rather apprehensive of Orion and Red.

"Don't worry Daddy, I promise not to say what you think about anyone else." Orion smiled tightly at his son, wondering why it was always him this happened to.

"Thank you, son. That means a lot to me." Pomona Sprout gave a little giggle, leaning across the table towards Orion.

"This Sheba sounds nice – is he handsome?" She asked, and Orion smiled, glad that someone wasn't trying to make fun of him.

"Yes he is. He's got dark skin, and even darker tattoos. His shoulders are wonderfully broad, and his ears are pierced – every time I see him I start to think of sinfully wicked thoughts that aren't appropriate for the dinner table. Oh look, sausages for dinner." Pomona burst into laughter, her shoulders and chest heaving as Minerva and Teddy joined in, Albus still chuckling, while the other two men at the table looked a bit uncomfortable.

Red just shook his head, ignoring all the food in favour of his goblet.

"So, Mr. Red, what will you be eating while you are with us?" The silky voice of Severus Snape asked, redirecting the conversation.

"The Headmaster was kind enough to have the house elves provide me with blood in my goblet. They have done the same for Orion. Human say 'tastes like chicken.' Vampire say 'tastes like human.'" He said, picking up his goblet and giving a mock salute to Snape, his wide grin displaying every single sharp tooth in his mouth.

Orion rolled his eyes. Orion could grin at people all he wanted, because his fangs were optional. He could have normal human teeth, vampire fangs, or a mouth filled with wolfish, carnivorous incisors. Red, however, never smiled with his teeth. He was just trying to intimidate the raven haired man. As much as Snape tried to be unaffected, it was obvious that Red had succeeded.

Orion wondered if Red would give him lessons in intimidation.

He certainly needed them.

xxx

The next day, thankfully, wasn't as 'fun' as the dinner. Orion thought he might've done something drastic, like duck tape and closets drastic, if it had been. Luckily, this was just Dumbledore taking him around the castle. Orion didn't realise, but the Headmaster was a half step behind him, letting Orion lead the way as the old wizard talked. Even if Orion had noticed, he would have encouraged it.

If fit in with the slightly evil joke that Salazar Slytherin had concocted.

If anyone had suspicions about Orion being Salazar, then he was to lead them on. Make them think he was the missing Founder. And then feed them a whole lot of bullshit. Like Orion was currently doing. He was talking about a Dark Lord that had been around during the time of the original Slytherin.

Dumbledore had brought up the topic as they'd strolled past the room History was taught in.

"Pink, you say?" He asked, some surprise on his face, and Orion nodded.

"Indeed, dressed all of his followers in it. He wore a light shade of pink – almost pastel. Personally I think that he had ... tendencies. I mean, I know he came from the Scandinavian region of Europe, I know he was a Viking, but seriously? Pink can be excused, the tassels? Not so much." Orion said, and Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.

"Really? How do you know?" He asked and Orion shrugged, outwardly becoming a tad uneasy, while cheering inwardly. He had the man, now all he had to do was reel him in with a vague, completely untrustworthy, excuse.

"Oh, err, I saw a painting of him once. And read about him in a book. A history book." Dumbledore nodded.

"I'd only read that he was cruel – and never anything about pink." He said, and Orion rolled his eyes.

"Of course not. Once he was defeated, all of his supporters tried to regain what respect they'd lost following a pansy dressed in pastel pink. They spread stories of a man wearing all black and, of course, those who hadn't seen him thought that that was more likely than a Dark Lord wearing pink." Orion waved a hand dismissively.

They continued on, down the corridors, before they arrived at Orions room, Red cautiously sneaking in before them. He had been quiet as a shadow the entire walk, and Orion had quite forgotten he'd been there.

"Thank you for showing me around, Albus." Orion said, and Albus nodded at him, a jovial smile on his face.

"The pleasure was all mine, Orion. Your discussions have been most enlightening." Orion waved at the man, who retreated, and slid in his own room.

"Hello Teddy." He said, and his son smiled at him.

"Had fun?" Teddy nodded, holding out a sheet of paper in front of him. On it, in Teddys childish hand writing, was a list. Orion took it from his son, and raised an eyebrow.

"These are the things that you'll tell everybody as Salazar Slytherin." He said, and Orion sat down in a chair next to Red. Red slid a chocolate bar over the table, and Orion smiled gratefully at him. Honestly, what would he do without his friend?

"_Tickling a sleeping dragon is, literally, not a good idea_. Of course not, Teddy!" He said, and Teddy giggled.

"You could tell them that Godric Gryffindor, in a stupid display of bravery one drunken night, had thought that tickling a sleeping dragon had sounded fun. You and he found a dragon, ran from dragon, hid from dragon. Godric had then, still smashed out of his mind, tried to seduce a tree. A whomping willow." Orion gave a huff of amusement.

"This happened before Hogwarts, I've decided. I looked it up, and there was this one time that Salazar and Godric left on a trip together, and came back a few days later, worse for wear." Orion rolled his eyes and slipped the paper back to his son.

"You would be a good Ravenclaw, kind of, but maybe more of a Slytherin, with the way your mind works. Personally, I was just going to make fun of Salazar and Godric every time I saw them by telling them I'd let it slip that the two of them had tried out shag carpets, and then named them aptly." Red snorted, shaking his head.

"How about the two of you, instead of trying to humiliate dead men, try and work on the problem that is Remus Lupin is coming to the school tomorrow? He _will_ be able to smell Teddy, be able to smell the family relation and be confused because he has no blood family." Orion rolled his eyes, patting Reds arm as he ate the chocolate.

"Thank you for reminding me, Red." He turned to Teddy and took out his wand.

"This will hide your scent from everyone. Then that won't be able to give you away." Teddy nodded, and Orion muttered the spell, waving his wand expertly. Reds eyes were glued to Orions wand. He had not seen magic in many centuries, as not many he was near could do it. It was always fascinating to watch; especially now he was more attuned to the world and could almost _feel_ the power that Orion wielded.

It was intoxicating.

Orion smiled, and took a deep breath. He could not smell Teddy. His eyes then turned to Red, and he grinned.

"I know you said no making fun of dead men, Red, but I couldn't help but notice the way you were completely fixated on my ... wand, just then. Did you like it? I could show you again, maybe?" He teased, and Red shook his head, smiling back. With quick hands, so that they almost blurred, he snatched Orion off his seat and had pulled him into his lap. Orion gave a quick yelp, which turned into a cry of outrage when Red stole a bit of his chocolate.

"I slipped." He deadpanned, before a wicked smile overcame him.

"I wonder, are you ticklish, Orion?" He asked, one hand poking Orion in the ribs. The hybrid tried to shy away from the finger, for he was very ticklish, but couldn't evade the finger. The attempted escape had been proof enough, and soon Orion was being attacked by Red, his head thrown back as he howled out his laughter.

Teddy soon joined in, his small fingers tickling the places where Red larger hand couldn't reach. His other hand was holding Orion tightly to his chest, so that the squirming man could do nothing but struggle and laugh, which sabotaged his attempts to free himself.

"Help!" Orion screeched out, his laughing bouncing off the walls and stopping the sound of footsteps from reaching the trio's ears. The door opened slowly, half a body slipping through as she tried to find the person who was in need of assistance. She was greeted, instead, by three unknown people, two of whom were tickling the first.

Lily Potter slipped her wand away, and quietly slipped out of the door, not wanting to interrupt the obviously happy family. It made her heart ache to see a family playing with their little boy, but she did not begrudge them their happiness. She would meet the new defence professor and his wife and child later.

Everyone needed all the happiness they could get in the approaching dark times.

xx

_And, once again, someone else mistakes Orion for a girl. Poor Orion, he really isn't that feminine, just not that masculine. Not that Red will care when he laughs, nor will Teddy or Noir. _

_Wow, 100 reviews. Thanks guys, I love you all too. Not my best chapter, but I wanted to give you all something for the century of reviews – and to honour Soundwave. Watching Rob Zombie was amazing – Dimmu Borgir stole my fucking soul – Bullet For My Valentine has, once again, secured my undying loyalty._

_Love to all my reviewers and readers. Love, love, love._

_Xxxo._


	12. Chapter 12

Hello everyone, my house caught fire early yesterday morning, Tuesday 20th of November. My house was gutted almost completely, and no remains of my laptop can be found at all. I've found a few of my thumb drives, but they aren't really working too well. This note is just to say that any updates will be suspended for a while. Temporary hiatus at worst, I'm optimistically hoping for. I'm sorry about the delay, but I'll going to try and write up some new chapters, mainly to keep myself occupied. This note will disappear once I'm ready with an update.

Love, Leelus Skittles.


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